EASTON, Pa. – Highlighted by junior Max Mahoney's game-high 28 points and a season-low five turnovers, the Boston University men's basketball team edged Lafayette, 84-82, on Wednesday night at the Kirby Sports Center.
 
Avenging an earlier 79-72 loss to the Leopards (10-18, 7-10 PL), the Terriers (14-16, 7-10 PL) are now in a three-way tie for sixth in the Patriot League standings with both Lafayette and Saturday's home opponent Navy. Both Army and American are one game ahead in a tie for fourth at 8-9, and only the top six squads receive a first-round bye for next week's 10-team PL tournament.
 
Mahoney went 12-of-15 from the field while adding six rebounds to help BU overcome Lafayette's 38-17 advantage in bench points. Sophomore Javante McCoy (12 pts.), junior Tyler Scanlon (11 pts.) and redshirt-freshman Alex Vilarino (11 pts.) also reached double figures, as the Terriers shot 58.3 percent from the field.
 
THE FINAL MINUTE

• After Mahoney hit a layup and Lafayette called a timeout, Paulius Zalys tied the game for the sixth and final time, 82-82, with 59 seconds left in regulation.
• Mahoney missed a jumper on BU's next possession, but sophomore Javante McCoy managed to grab the offensive rebound while being fouled and hit two free throws for the final points of the game at the 27-second mark.
• McCoy came up big with another defensive rebound on Alex Petrie's missed jumper but missed both free throw attempts.
• McCoy grabbed his third rebound of the minute and game following the second consecutive missed free throw but was short two more times to keep the lead at 84-82.
• Lukas Jarrett hauled in the defensive rebound but was unable to connect on a 3-point attempt before the buzzer, as the Terriers escaped with the two-point victory.

THE SETUP

• Vilarino and McCoy opened the game with back-to-back buckets for a lead that would last over 21 minutes.
• Scanlon drained the game's first 3-pointer at 13:52 to give BU its first double-digit lead, 18-7, at 13:52.
• Freshman Jonas Harper flushed another one at 8:51 to extend the lead to 29-15.
• Lafayette's E.J. Stephens followed with a jumper to spark a 20-7 run capped by his own layup at 2:32 to cut the deficit to 36-35.
• Vilarino scored on a successful drive in BU's final possession of the half, but Jarrett converted on his offensive rebound to cut the Leopards' deficit to 40-38 entering the locker room.
• Lafayette opened the second stanza with a 3-pointer to grab its first lead and would start 5-of-7 from behind the arc after shooting 4-of-14 in the first half.
• Petrie followed up on Justin Jawroski's four-point play with one of his four bombs to extend the Leopards' advantage to 56-48 at 15:22.
• Facing a 67-61 deficit with 9:02 left in regulation, freshman Jack Hemphill hit a 3-pointer to spark a 12-2 run capped by freshman Garrett Pascoe's trey at 5:38.
• The Leopards responded with a six-point spurt featuring a layup and two free throws by Petrie to pull ahead, 75-73, at 3:58 for Lafayette's final lead of the game.
• Mahoney followed up on Scanlon's steal and slam dunk with a layup and bonus free throw for an 80-75 advantage, but Lafayette used Paulius Zalys jumper and Petrie's fourth 3-pointer to tie the game, 80-80, with 1:39 remaining.

GAME NOTES

• The Terriers matched their season-high three-game win streak set back in non-conference play.
• Mahoney is now just 12 points away from becoming the 37^th Terrier to reach the 1,000-point milestone, while Scanlon is only 20 points away from hitting the mark.
• BU has earned its two best shooting performances of the season in back-to-back games, finishing at 58.3 percent against the Leopards after posting 54.9 FG% in Saturday's 72-65 win over Loyola Maryland.
• The Terriers improved to 13-7 all-time against Lafayette and are now 11-3 since joining the PL in the summer of 2013.
• Petrie led Lafayette with 19 points, while Jaworski (17 pts.) and Stephens (15 pts.) combined for 32.
• Jarrett nearly had a double-double with 11 points and eight rebounds, as the Leopards edged BU in rebounding, 32-3`.
• Lafayette went 20-of-25 (.800) at the charity stripe, while BU finished 10-of-22 (.455). 
• The Terriers outscored the Leopards in the paint, 56-26, and off turnovers, 15-9.

NEXT UP: NAVY

• After honoring senior Kamali Chambers, the Terriers will face the Midshipmen on Saturday (March 2) at 12 p.m. in the regular season finale for both teams.
• BU trailed, 42-28, with 15:53 left before rallying for 75-69 win at Alumni Hall on Jan. 12 with Mahoney tallying 19 of his game-high 22 points in the second half.
• The Terriers are 8-3 against Navy since joining the PL but have lost their last three games at Case Gym.