Army West Point Pulls Away Late to Defeat Men's Basketball, 71-61

Wednesday, February 13

West Point, N.Y.

11 AM

Boston University

11-15, 4-9PL

Army

12-14, 7-6PL

Boston University

Army

Javante McCoy dribbles the ball up the court against Vermont.

Photo by: Rich Gagnon

Army West Point Pulls Away Late to Defeat Men's Basketball, 71-61

February 13, 2019 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Led by sophomore Javante McCoy's game-high 19 points, the Boston University men's basketball team cut a double-digit deficit to one possession on multiple occasions in the second half but were unable to get over the hump in a 71-61 loss at Army West Point on Wednesday afternoon.

Claiming the regular season sweep over the Terriers (11-15, 4-9 PL), the Black Knights improve to 12-14 overall and 7-6 in conference play. Matt Wilson earned a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds, while Tommy Funk tallied 17 points and four assists to lead Army. Both juniors Max Mahoney (14 pts.) and Tyler Scanlon (11 pts.) reached double figures and combined for 25 points for BU.

THE TURNING POINT

After powering through the defense for a layup and the foul at 5:36 to cut the deficit to 54-51, McCoy missed the bonus free throw.
Wilson followed with a layup, and Aaron Duhart flushed a 3-pointer at 3:51 to extend Army's lead to 61-53.
Trailing by nine (65-56) with 1:39 remaining, sophomore Andrew Petcash flushed one of his three treys, and Mahoney followed up on Funk's 1-of-2 performance at the line by hitting both of his free throws to pull within five (66-61) at 1:15.
The Black Knights though hit their next five free throw attempts to seal the victory, as the Terriers missed their final four field goal attempts.

THE SETUP

With an 11 a.m. tip-off, neither team started off strong offensively, shooting under 35 percent from the field during the first 10 minutes of action, after they combined for 168 points back on Jan. 9 at Case Gym.
Petcash used a pair of 3-pointers to give BU its largest lead of the game at 13:15 (10-6).
Freshman Garrett Pascoe gave the Terriers their final lead (12-11) three minutes later on a steal and layup.
After both teams had an empty possession, Alex King hit a jumper to help ignite a 14-2 run capped by Cayne Edwards' layup at 5:25.
Facing a double-digit deficit, Scanlon drained a 3-pointer to help BU score nine straight points and pull within two (25-23) at 2:13 on Mahoney's layup.
Funk though hit a 3-pointer on the next possession, and the Black Knights hit the last two field goals of the half for a 32-25 advantage entering the locker room.
Both Scanlon and McCoy hit early buckets from behind the arc, as BU managed to pull within one at 15:01 (37-36) and 13:58 (39-38).
The Terriers went without a field goal for the next five minutes until Scanlon's jumper put the Terriers' deficit at 48-41 with 8:45 remaining in regulation.
BU pulled within one possession at 5:36 after McCoy found an open Scanlon for his second 3-pointer and then scored on the layup while being fouled.

GAME NOTES

McCoy finished 9-of-15 from the field to come up just two points shy of his career high set twice last season while adding a team-high four assists.
BU outscored Army in the paint (38-36), off turnovers (16-14) and in second-chance opportunities (7-4), but the Black Knights edged the Terriers in 3-pointers, 7-6, and more importantly claimed a 12-5 advantage in free throws.
After being outscored just twice through the first 23 games, BU's bench has been outscored in three straight games now with the Black Knights posting a 24-13 advantage today.
Both King and Grayson tallied 10 points apiece for Army, who shot 53.1 FG% and held the Terriers to 43.9 FG%.

NEXT UP: LEHIGH

The Terriers will be in the second game of a BU basketball doubleheader when they host PL preseason favorite Lehigh on Saturday (Feb. 16) at 4:30 p.m.
The women's basketball team will start things off against Holy Cross at 2 p.m.
Besides the two hoops games, the BU athletic department will be hosting four other ticketed events (m/w hockey and m/w lacrosse) that day, and to help celebrate the busy calendar, residents of the city of Boston will be able to receive complimentary admission for all six contests by registering at GoTerriers.com/BostonDay.