BOSTON – After honoring seniors Max Mahoney and Adam Mikula, the Boston University men's basketball team utilized a 23-5 game-ending run to defeat Bucknell, 74-71, on Saturday afternoon at Case Gym.

With their fourth sweep of the season, the Terriers (18-13, 12-6 PL) have clinched the No. 3 seed for next week's Patriot League tournament and will host No. 6 Navy (14-15, 8-10 PL) on Thursday (March 5) with a 7 p.m. start time. BU shot over 65 percent in the second half to overcome a 16-point deficit and fend off the Bison (12-19, 8-10 PL), who were coming off a 71-70 win against regular season champion Colgate.

Mahoney claimed a game-high 23 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks to earn his fourth straight double-double while also becoming the eighth Terrier to reach 1,500 career points. Junior Javante McCoy tallied 17 points alongside three assists, and sophomore Walter Whyte recorded 13 points. Freshman Ethan Brittain-Watts and sophomore Jonas Harper combined for 17 points off the bench as well to help provide a spark during the rally.

For Bucknell, Jimmy Sotos posted 19 points but was held to 6-of-15 shooting. Andrew Funk added 15 points, while Walter Ellis contributed 11 points. 

THE COMEBACK

• John Meeks flushed his lone 3-pointer at 7:55 to give Bucknell a commanding  66-51 lead, but the Bison would finish 0-for-6 from the field the rest of the way while committing four turnovers.
• Sotos followed Brittain-Watts' trey and Harper's layup with two free throws to keep Bucknell ahead, 68-56, at 6:47.
• Mahoney followed with a slam dunk and assist on Brittain-Watts' 3-pointer to cut the deficit to seven at 5:49.
• He then scored three straight points and later helped set up Whyte's layup with another monster block at 3:48 to put the deficit at 69-66.
• After Sotos hit two free throws, Harper flushed a 3-pointer and McCoy tied the game at 1:54 (71-7-1) with a jumper.
• Bucknell grabbed two offensive rebounds on the next possession but were unable to convert, leading to McCoy's go-ahead jumper with approximately 28 seconds remaining.
• The Bison missed a 3-point attempt with 15 seconds left, leading to a BU free throw, and a game-tying shot before the buzzer for the loss.

THE SETUP

• The teams exchanged multiple blows in the first half, as McCoy scored from behind the arc to put BU's deficit at 8-7 with 15:30 remaining in the half.
• Ellis and Xander Rice both drained 3-pointers during a 12-2 run that ended with Avi Toomer's bomb at 11:25 to grab 20-9 lead.
• BU chipped away over the next seven minutes to grab its first lead of the game, 25-24, on Whyte's layup, but Toomer came right back with a jumper.
• Funk and Ellis added two more baskets to give Bucknell a 30-25 halftime advantage.
• McCoy started the second with a jumper, but Sotos flushed a 3-pointer to ignite a 12-3 run capped by Paul Newman's layup at 16:59 to pull ahead, 42-30.
• Ellis added a bomb at 10:27 to extend the lead to 59-43, and Sotos kept it at 16 points (61-45) with 9:42 remaining on a putback off his own missed layup attempt.

GAME NOTES

• With his eighth double-double of the season and 18th career, Mahoney became the sixth Terrier to reach 1,500+ points and 600+ rebounds.
• Mahoney just needs 18 more rebounds to become the fourth to hit 1,500+ points and 700+ rebounds.
• With his eighth 20+ point performance of the season and 23rd career, Mahoney (1,513) needs 15 more points to surpass Paul Hendricks ('87) for the No. 7 slot in the record book.
• McCoy moved up to No. 35 all-time at BU with 1,021 points.
• Brittain-Watts tallied eight points in 25 minutes of action, two shy of the season-high 27 minutes set at home against Navy.
• Mikula made his first career start on Senior Day and played the first three minutes.
• BU claimed its first-ever sweep against Bucknell and has now won four of the last six meetings to cut the Bison's lead in the series to 13-7.
• The Terriers finished the game 29-of-54 (.537) while holding Bucknell to 26-of-58 (.448).
• BU outscored the Bison off turnovers, 14-7, while Bucknell owned a 12-8 lead in second-chance points.
• BU finished tied-for-second in PL standings alongside American and had 12+ wins for first time since finishing 12-6 in 2017 ... This year marks the program's biggest improvement in conference wins (+ 5) since the Terriers went 13-5 in 1995-96 following a 7-9 performance in 1994-95.

NEXT UP: PATRIOT LEAGUE QUARTERFINALS

• No. 3 BU will host No. 6 Navy on Thursday (March 5) at 7 p.m.
• This will be the first postseason meeting between the two schools since BU upset the 18th nationally ranked Midshipmen in the 1959 NCAA Sweet 16 matchup.
• The road team has won the last 10 meetings between the two programs.
• BU was edged in OT (60-58) back on Jan. 22 at home and rebounded with a 77-54 victory in Annapolis on Feb. 15.