Great Danes Pull Away Late to Spoil Havener's Career Night, 88-74

Monday, November 13

Boston, MA

7 PM

Boston University

0-2

Albany

2-0

Albany

Boston University

Photo by: Steve Babineau

Great Danes Pull Away Late to Spoil Havener's Career Night, 88-74

November 13, 2017 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score Highlights Coach Jones Postgame

BOSTON – Senior Nick Havener scored 15 of his career-high 19 points for a two-point halftime lead, but Albany shot over 60 percent in the second to defeat the Boston University men's basketball team, 88-74, on Monday night.

Coming off a 69-67 win over MAAC preseason favorite Iona, the 2017 America East runner-up Great Danes had all five starters reach double figures and combine for 72 points to help off-set Havener's performance and freshman Javante McCoy's 15 points. The Terriers shot 53.3 percent in the first half but were held to 37.1 percent in the second, while Albany posted a 22-5 advantage in free throw attempts during the final 20 minutes.

TURNING POINT

Trailing 66-55 with 9:39 remaining, Havener converted on a layup attempt and then blocked Greig Stire's own layup before finding senior Cedric Hankerson in the corner for the 3-pointer to cut the deficit to six.
Albany immediately called a timeout and stopped the rally with two successful drives to the hoop and a pair of free throws after the Terriers missed two shots from behind the arc.

THE SETUP

The first half was a see-saw affair with eight ties and seven lead changes, as neither team led by more than four.
America East preseason All-Conference member Joe Cremo opened with a 3-pointer, and Alex Foster later hit back-to-back layups to push Albany's lead to 14-10 at 12:00.
Trailing 18-15, Havener and sophomore Destin Barnes combined for three straight jumpers to tie the Terriers' largest lead of the game, 21-18, at 9:00.
BU only shot 3-of-13 from three in the first half with Scanlon tying the game at 7:17 (24-24) and Barnes pushing BU ahead, 32-30, four minutes later.
On the Terriers' last missed 3-point attempt with three seconds remaining, freshman Walter Whyte jumped over an Albany defender to tip in the rebound for the 40-38 lead.
Scanlon gave BU its final lead 30 seconds into the second half, 43-41, as the Great Danes then went on a 15-4 run keyed by four successful layups and another Cremo trey.
Stire drained a short jumper to push Albany's lead to double-digits (63-52) for the first time at 11:01 and added two more free throws at 9:52 (66-55) to keep the advantage at 11 points before the Terriers tried to mount their rally.

GAME NOTES

Havener went 8-of-10 from the field and 3-of-4 at the line to top his previous high by one point while adding three blocks and five rebounds in just 24 minutes of action, as he also earned five fouls for the second consecutive game after fouling out four times last season.
McCoy finished 6-of-11 to reach double figures for the first time while also adding a team-high three assists and two steals.
Barnes nearly had a double-double, as he contributed 10 points off the bench with a career-high seven rebounds, beating his previous mark of four boards.
Hankerson went 3-of-7 from the field to finish with eight points and now just needs five more to become the 36th Terrier to hit the 1,000-point milestone.
A member of the Lou Henson Mid-Major Player of the Year Award Watch List, Albany's David Nichols led all players with 20 points and five assists while adding six rebounds.
Avenging a 69-64 loss at Case Gym in 2015 by nearly doubling BU in points in the paint (56-32), the Great Danes snapped a 10-game losing streak to the Terriers dating back to a home win in 2009 when the teams were still in the America East together.
Allowing eight more points than the previous high in the rivalry, BU now leads the all-time series, 19-9.

NEXT UP: UCONN

For the second consecutive year, the Terriers will visit UConn at the XL Center in Hartford with the SNY broadcast set to begin at 6 p.m. on Sunday (Nov. 19) evening.
Both teams had a night to forget on the offensive end last year with both shooting under 33 percent from the field, as the Huskies escaped with a 51-49 win.
UConn leads the all-time series, 43-12, but the teams have only met five times since BU prevailed at home, 80-71, in 1986.