Max Mahoney drives to the hoop against American while surrounded by defenders at Case Gym.
Matt Woolverton
70
Winner American AMERICAN 9-9, 3-4 PL
66
Boston University BOSTONU 9-11, 2-5 PL
Winner
American AMERICAN
9-9, 3-4 PL
70
Final
66
Boston University BOSTONU
9-11, 2-5 PL
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
American AMERICAN 35 35 70
Boston University BOSTONU 31 35 66

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Mahoney's Double-Double Not Enough in 70-66 Loss to American

BOSTON – Despite junior Max Mahoney claiming his fourth double-double of the season, the Boston University men's basketball team came up short to American, 70-66, on Wednesday evening at Case Gym. 

Patriot League Preseason Player of the Year Sa'eed Nelson led the Eagles (9-9, 3-4 PL) with a game-high 26 points, six assists, five steals, four rebounds and two blocks, while Mahoney owned 24 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Junior Tyler Scanlon tallied 14 points and redshirt-freshman Alex Vilarino added season-high 12 points, but the Eagles finished with an 18-11 advantage in points off turnovers to pull out the win.

TURNING POINT
  • After Mahoney gave BU its largest lead of the game, 47-44, on a free throw with 14:12 left, Nelson hit back-to-back layups with the foul to spark a 16-4 run capped by Larry Motuzis' 3-pointer at 7:08.
  • The Terriers still trailed by nine (62-53) with 5:50 remaining but did claw their way back to pull within two (64-62) at 2:05 on Javante McCoy's 3-pointer.
  • Nelson then drew a foul and hit two free throws to push the lead to four (66-62).
  • BU committed back-to-back turnovers, but American couldn't take advantage with a turnover and missed 1-and-1, allowing Vilarino to cut the deficit to two (66-64) with 24 seconds left on a layup.
  • American sealed the win by beating the press with a slam dunk and then forcing BU to attempt a difficult 3-point shot.
THE SETUP
  • The Eagles started on fire, shooting 8-of-10 from the field to jump out to a 19-7 lead at 12:35 on Nelson's layup.
  • Mahoney kept American from extending the lead by hitting a layup with the free throw on the next possession to spark BU's 15-3 run capped by sophomore Javante McCoy's 3-pointer at 9:19.
  • AU scored six quick points on three buckets and pushed the lead to 35-27 at 1:46 on two Nelson free throws.
  • BU shut down the Eagles' offense for the rest of the half and used Vilarino's layup before the buzzer to cut the deficit to 35-31 entering the locker room.
  • The teams traded blows to start the second half with AU leading, 41-37, at 17:15 on Stacy Beckton Jr.'s layup.
  • Scanlon completed a 3-point play to ignite another Terrier run (9-2) finished by Mahoney's layup at 14:46.
GAME NOTES
  • Mahoney went 11-of-16 from the field and 2-of-4 at the line to reach 20+ points for the eighth time this season while claiming his fifth-career double-double.
  • Vilarino shot 5-of-9 from the field and 2-of-2 at the charity stripe to reach double figures for the third time this season.
  • BU out-rebounded the Eagles, 35-21, and claimed a 15-3 advantage in second-chance points.
  • BU shot 53.8 FG% in the second half while holding AU to 44.0 FG% but the Eagles ended the game with 6-3 advantage in 3-pointers and 12-9 lead in free throws to hold on for the win.
  • Motuzis ann Beckton Jr. both had 11 points to help the Eagles overcome BU limiting 2018 All-PL Rookie honoree Sam Iorio (15.2 ppg) to just five points on 1-of-7 shooting.
  • The Eagles won their fourth straight in the series to cut BU's lead to 9-7 in the rivalry.
NEXT UP: LEHIGH
  • The Terriers will hit the road with a visit to PL preseason favorite Lehigh on Saturday (Jan. 26) at 2 p.m.
  • The contest will be a rematch of last year's PL Quarterfinals in which No. 5-seed BU topped the No. 4 Mountain Hawks, 88-82, at Stabler Arena.
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