Northeastern Pulls Away in Final Minute to Defeat Men's Basketball, 72-67

Tuesday, November 5

Boston, MA

7 PM

Boston University

0-1

Northeastern

1-0

Northeastern

Boston University

Photo by: David Arnold

Northeastern Pulls Away in Final Minute to Defeat Men's Basketball, 72-67

November 5, 2019 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score Highlights Coach Jones & W. Whyte Postgame Comments Photo Gallery

BOSTON – Despite sophomore Walter Whyte tallying a career-high 23 points, the Boston University men's basketball team came up just short to defending CAA champion Northeastern, 72-67, on Tuesday night at Case Gym in the season opener for both programs.

Preseason All-CAA honoree Jordan Roland posted a game-high 39 points and assisted on the go-ahead 3-pointer with 35 seconds remaining in regulation to help the Huskies (1-0) avenge last year's 77-74 loss to the Terriers (0-1). Sophomore Alex Vilarino joined Whyte in double figures with 17 points while dishing out three assists alongside sophomore Jonas Harper and junior Javante McCoy, who added eight points and five rebounds.

BU and Northeastern opened the season against each other for the 10th straight year, and the exciting rivalry did not disappoint fans with eight ties in the second half. Thirteen of the last 14 meetings between the two programs have been decided by single digits with 10 of the last 12 showcasing a margin of six points or less.

DOWN THE STRETCH

Trailing 57-53 with 7:18 remaining, Whyte went 1-of-2 at the line and followed up with a steal and three-point play to tie the game.
The teams traded blows over the next seven minutes with Whyte converting on McCoy's steal via a thunderous slam dunk at 3:57 to tie the game, 61-61.
Senior Max Mahoney tied the game two more times at 2:23 (63-63) and 1:39 (65-65) with contested layups.
Northeastern missed a 3-point attempt on the next possession but forced a turnover and found Bolden Brace for the clutch bomb just before the shot clock expired.
BU then missed a tough shot from behind the arc and saw the Huskies make four free throws to seal their win.

THE SETUP

Vilarino capped a game-opening 8-2 spurt with a layup at 15:36 in the first half.
Maxime Boursiquot responded with back-to-back layups and was followed by Roland's jumper at 14:14 to quickly tie the game again.
Whyte flushed his first of four 3-pointers at 11:30 to break a 10-10 deadlock and followed with his second at 9:57 for a 16-12 advantage.
Vilarino later assisted on Harper's 3-pointer and then hit a layup at 6:18 for BU's largest lead of the game, 24-17.
The Huskies clawed their way back and tied the game, 26-26, at 3:39 on a trey from Roland, who also hit the half's final two field goals to cut BU's lead to 33-32.
The teams hit two 3-pointers apiece over the first 3:30 of the second half with Whyte giving BU its final lead of the game at 16:38 (43-42).
Roland gave Northeastern its largest lead of the game at 10:07 (53-47) on a layup and later added two free throws at 8:41 for the 55-50 advantage.
On the ensuing possession, junior Andrew Petcash scored from downtown to cut the deficit to two and set up the exciting back-and-forth finish.

GAME NOTES

After missing all of last season due to injury, Whyte has now reached double figures in eight consecutive games dating back to the end of the 2017-18 season.
The 2018 All-PL Rookie Team honoree eclipsed his previous high of 16 points set three times his freshman year by shooting 8-of-14 and 4-of-8 from behind the arc.
After being recognized for reaching the 1,000-point milestone at the end of last season, the two-time All-PL honoree Mahoney picked up two early fouls and finished with eight points in the game to move past Carlos Strong for the No. 30 slot (1,040 pts.) in the BU record book.
Freshman Ethan Brittain-Watts played 13 minutes in his debut for the Terriers.
The Huskies went 11-of-14 (.786) at the charity stripe, while BU went 5-of-12 (.417) from the line.
Northeastern outscored BU in the paint (36-34) and off turnovers (20-14).
Roland's 39 points were just four shy of tying UConn's Al Weston (Feb. 7, 1973) for the most scored by an opposing player at Case Gym.
Tyson Walker (11) and Boursiquot (10) were the other two to reach double figures for the Huskies.
Northeastern tied the all-time series, 74-74, in a rivalry that dates back to 1920-21.

NEXT UP: SUNY Poly

The Terriers will remain home and host SUNY Poly from the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) on Saturday at 1 p.m.
The matchup will mark the first-ever between the two programs.