Men's Basketball Extends Win Streak with 72-62 Victory over UMass Lowell

Wednesday, December 8

Boston, MA

7 PM

Boston University

8-3,0-0Patriot

UMass Lowell

6-4,0-0America East

UMass Lowell

Boston U.

Photo by: Robert Branning

Men's Basketball Extends Win Streak with 72-62 Victory over UMass Lowell

December 8, 2021 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score Highlights, Harper/Coach Wilson Postgame Coach Jones/Mathon Postgame

BOSTON – Boosted by graduate student Sukhmail Mathon's double-double and senior Jonas Harper's season-high 17 points, the Boston University men's basketball team remained perfect at home with a 72-62 win over UMass Lowell on Wednesday night.

With their fourth straight victory and now 4-0 mark at The Roof, the Terriers (8-3) have claimed their most non-conference wins during the regular season since the 1982-83 ECAC North champion squad went 10-7 en route to a 21-10 (8-2 ECAC North) record. BU's defense held the River Hawks (6-4) to 35.6 percent shooting and claimed a 47-32 advantage in rebounds that led to a 15-2 difference in second-chance points.

Harper went 3-of-5 from behind the arc to reach double-digits in points for the third time this season, while Mathon posted 14 points and 13 rebounds. Graduate student and reigning PL Player of the Week Javante McCoy delivered 14 points to move within 10 of Terrier alum Paul Hendricks ('87), who sits at No. 8 in the program record book with 1,527 career points. Senior Fletcher Tynen helped in the paint with seven points and a career-high nine rebounds, while sophomore Anthony Morales had four assists off the bench.

The River Hawks entered the game with road wins at Dayton, George Washington and Merrimack but only managed to lead for 16 seconds against the Terriers, who led by as many as 13 late in the first half. Both Kalil Thomas and Everette Hammond tallied 16 points for UML, while Justin Faison had 11 points and five assists.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Max Brooks opened the game with a 3-pointer, but UMass Lowell quickly lost the lead after Mathon grabbed an offensive rebound and scored with the foul.
McCoy;s jumper at 15:19 broke the 5-5 deadlock and gave the Terriers the lead for good.
After Faison cut the deficit to 13-12 on a 3-pointer with 7:54 remaining in the half, Harper sparked a 12-2 run with a floater and later used a steal and fastbreak layup to pull ahead, 25-14, at 5:39.
McCoy hit a hook shot to extend the lead to 30-17 at 2:08 and ended the half on a driving layup to enter the locker room ahead, 34-22.
After the teams exchanged buckets to start the second half, the River Hawks went on a 12-2 run over a three-minute stretch to cut the deficit to 38-36 with Brooks converting on a turnover with the layup and foul at 16:02.
Thomas later flushed one of his four 3-pointers to pull even closer, 40-39, but junior Garrett Pascoe responded with his own 3-pointer on the next possession.
With a 43-41 advantage, the Terriers used bombs from sophomore Caelan Jones and Morales to help extend the lead back to double-digits, 56-44, at 9:19 with Mathon flushing a pair of free throws.
Down but not out, UML used back-to-back 3-pointers from Thomas to cut the deficit to 62-56 at 5:24 and later two of his free throws to pull even closer, 67-62, with 2:33 remaining.
Mathon though grabbed another key offensive rebound and drew a foul to set up two made free throws.
Following a defensive stop, Harper put the game away with a 3-pointer at 1:03 in what proved to be the final bucket of the game.

GAME NOTES

The Terriers are 8-3 to start a season for the first time since opening 11-3 in 2004-05.
BU opened 4-0 at home for the first time since 2016-17.
Mathon owns four double-doubles this season after totaling five over his first four years. He is now just 80 rebounds away from becoming the ninth Terrier to reach 700.
Mathon has scored 10+ points in a personal-best five straight games, while McCoy has tied his own streak of 14 straight games dating back to last season.
Making his second appearance of the season, Jones hit two 3-pointers, as BU finished the game 8-of-20 (.400).
The Terriers moved to 6-3 all-time against UML with their third straight win in the series while also moving ahead to 3-0 against the America East this season.

UP NEXT

With two non-conference games remaining, BU will hit the road and visit Ivy League foe Dartmouth on Saturday (Dec. 11) with a 6:30 p.m. tip on both NESN and ESPN+.
The Terriers most recently earned a 78-76 home win in 2019 after dropping a 78-68 road decision in 2018.