Men's Basketball Edged by Holy Cross in Home Opener, 68-66

Tuesday, January 5

Boston, MA

2 PM

Boston University

1-1,1-1Patriot

Holy Cross

1-1,1-1Patriot

Holy Cross

Boston U.

Photo by: Matt Woolverton

Men's Basketball Edged by Holy Cross in Home Opener, 68-66

January 5, 2021 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score Highlights Coach Jones - Harper Postgame Comments

BOSTON – Playing for the second consecutive day, the Boston University men's basketball team came up just short to Holy Cross, 68-66, on Tuesday afternoon in its home opener at Case Gym.

Despite a career-high 16-point effort from junior Jack Hemphill, BU was unable to overcome a 29.4 second-half shooting percentage, as the Crusaders avenged Monday's 83-76 loss to the Terriers in Worcester.

Seniors Javante McCoy (15 pts.) and Sukhmail Mathon (10 pts.) both reached double figures, as BU fell to 1-1 on the young season.

Playing his first season in the Patriot League, former Southland Conference Freshman of the Year Gerrale Gates led the Crusaders (1-1) with 19 points and seven rebounds, while Austin Butler added 18 points, seven rebounds and two steals.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Facing an early six-point deficit, sophomore Ethan Brittain-Watts flushed a 3-pointer and then assisted on junior Jonas Harper's trey to tie the game, 22-22, with 9:02 to play in the first half.
Senior Andrew Petcash's jumper gave BU its largest lead, 31-26, with 4:44 to go in the half.
Gates responded on the next possession with a tough move to the hoop for the 3-point play and would score nine of the Crusaders' 12 points to grab the 38-37 halftime advantage.
Ahead 45-42, Matt Faw drained a 3-pointer to ignite a 7-0 spurt capped by Gates' layup for the game's first double-digit lead, 52-42.
Hemphill though scored four straight points, and redshirt-freshman Daman Tate shortly thereafter forced a turnover to set up McCoy's 3-pointer to cut the Holy Cross lead to 54-53, with 9:29 to play.
Three minutes later, McCoy converted on a layup attempt and bonus free throw for the 61-58 advantage, but the Terriers were unable to pull away.
After BU missed three consecutive field goal attempts, Austin Butler's layup put the Crusaders in front for good, 65-64, with 2:13 to go.
Mathon responded to Gates' layup with a short jumper to keep the deficit at one (67-66) entering the final minute.
Holy Cross forced a turnover and got a defensive stop on the next possession with five seconds left, but went 1-of-3 from the line.
Inbounding the ball on the other side of the court with 3.9 seconds remaining, the Terriers managed to get past midcourt but had to force a tough 3-point shot that was offline for the loss.

GAME NOTES

Hemphill went 6-of-10 from the field with two 3-pointers to eclipse his previous personal best of 14 points set against Emerson on Nov. 11, 2018.
Before the tip-off, the 2020 All-PL Third Team honoree McCoy was formally recognized for becoming the 39th Terrier to reach 1,000 points at the end of last season.
McCoy is averaging a personal-best 16 ppg so far and now just needs five points to reach 1,100 and move into sole possession of 28th in the record book.
The defending Patriot League champion Terriers had a five-game win streak dating back to last season snapped.
The Crusaders also snapped a five-game losing streak to BU, who is now 12-4 in the series since joining the PL in the summer of 2013.
BU lost despite having a large advantage in offensive rebounds (16-7) and subsequent advantage in second chance points (12-2).
Holy Cross shot 45.8 FG% (27-59), while BU finished at 36.9 FG% (24-65) for the game.
Judson Martindale posted 16 points for Holy Cross, while Faw had 13.

NEXT UP

BU will welcome Colgate to Case Gym for a two-game series starting on Saturday (Jan. 9) with the ESPN+ broadcast set for 6 p.m.
The Terriers triumphed over the top-seeded Raiders, 64-61, in the PL title game last March.