McCoy's Career Night Propels Terriers to 71-63 PL First Round Win over Loyola

Tuesday, March 5

Boston, MA

7 PM

Boston University

15-17

Loyola Maryland (PL First Round)

11-21

Loyola Maryland

Boston University

Photo by: Matt Woolverton

McCoy's Career Night Propels Terriers to 71-63 PL First Round Win over Loyola

March 5, 2019 | Men's Basketball

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BOSTON – Highlighted by sophomore Javante McCoy netting a career-high 31 points and junior Tyler Scanlon reaching the 1,000-point milestone, the No. 8-seeded Boston University men's basketball team opened the Patriot League tournament with a 71-63 victory over No. 9 Loyola Maryland on Tuesday night at Case Gym.

The Terriers (15-17) shot 54.3 percent from the field and held PL-leading scorer Andrew Kostecka five points below his season average (21.5 ppg) to improve to 8-0 all-time at home against the Greyhounds (11-21). McCoy went 10-of-15 from the field, 4-of-6 in 3-point territory, and 6-of-7 at the charity stripe to top his previous high by nine points, while both juniors Scanlon (15 pts.) and Max Mahoney (12 pts.) combined for 27 points.

DOWN THE STRETCH

Facing a 59-46 deficit with 3:31 left following freshman Jonas Harper's made free throw, Kenneth Jones took over the game for the next 50 seconds with a 3-pointer, layup, assist and two steals to key an 8-0 spurt capped by Isaiah Hart's trey at 2:42.
The Greyhounds would never get any closer, as Javante McCoy went 1-of-2 at the line on the next possession and then followed up with his fourth bomb of the game for a 63-54 lead at 1:40.
Four different Terriers combined to flush all eight free throw attempts in the final minute of regulation to seal the eight-point victory.

THE SETUP

After Mahoney opened the game with back-to-back layups, Jaylin Andrews hit one of his own and Chuck Champion added the first of 10 Loyola 3-pointers to give the Greyhounds their lone lead of the game, 5-4.
After feeding sophomore Sukhmail Mathon for a layup at 16:21, Scanlon hit consecutive jumpers to give BU a 14-7 lead at 12:27.
Freshman Jack Hemphill extended the lead to 23-15 five minutes later on a layup, but Jones and Andrews hit back-to-back treys to key an 8-0 spurt capped by Champion's jumper at 4:51 to tie the game for the second and final time.
McCoy flushed three 3-pointers in the final four minutes, including one with 12 seconds left in the half, to help BU enter the locker room with a 34-30 advantage.
Casmir Ochiaka opened the second half with a jumper to cut Loyola's deficit to two points, but Mahoney used back-to-back buckets to ignite a 14-0 run over the next six minutes in which McCoy contributed seven points and Scanlon drained a 3-pointer.
Previously overcoming a 13-point deficit in January's OT win over the Terriers, the Greyhounds chipped away at BU's lead with KaVaughn Scott's dunk making the score 52-44 at 7:26.
Mahoney had one of the highlight plays of the game by stuffing Scott's layup attempt at 6:02 and then scoring on his own layup seconds later while drawing contact from Scott.

GAME NOTES

McCoy's previous career high was 21 points scored in an 88-82 Patriot League quarterfinal win at No. 4 Lehigh in 2018.
With his jumper at 13:12 in the first half, Scanlon became the 38th Terrier to eclipse 1,000 points, joining Mahoney who hit the mark late in the second half on Saturday at Navy.
A 2019 All-PL Second Team honoree, Mahoney finished with a game-high nine rebounds as BU edged the Greyhounds on the boards, 28-26.
Freshman Garrett Pascoe recorded four of BU's 15 assists, while Mathon had four points, four rebounds, two assists and a steal.
The Terriers shot over 53 percent in both halves and held the Greyhounds to 13-of-32 (.406) in the second after Loyola went 12-of-24 (.500) during the first.
BU outscored Loyola in the paint (34-24), off turnovers (18-17) and at the charity stripe (15-3) to overcome the bench providing just 10 points.
Andrews contributed 14 points and five boards for Loyola, while Jones tallied 11 points and three steals.
The Terriers extended their lead in the series to 11-6 and have now eliminated Loyola two times in the last three years at home following a 64-60 PL quarterfinal victory in 2017.

NEXT UP: COLGATE (PL QUARTERFINALS)

BU will have a quick turnaround and visit the top-seeded Raiders in the PL quarterfinals on Thursday (March 7) for a 7 p.m. tip-off.
Colgate finished in a tie-for-first with No. 2 Bucknell at 13-5 in the conference standings.
The Terriers recorded a split with both teams and were the only squad to hand a loss this season at Cotterell Court to the Raiders, who are 12-1 this season at home.
BU rebounded from a 77-56 home loss at Case Gym (Jan. 19) with a 76-68 win at Colgate on Feb. 2.
The Terriers are 0-2 all-time against the No. 1 seed as a No. 8 seed and will face the Raiders in a conference tournament for the first time since beating Colgate, 85-63, in the 1990 North Atlantic Conference semifinals.