Mathon's Career Day Propels Terriers to 63-61 Win over Bucknell

Saturday, January 1

Boston, MA

1 PM

Boston University

10-4,1-0Patriot

Bucknell

3-10,0-1Patriot

Bucknell

Boston U.

Photo by: Kyle Prudhomme

Mathon's Career Day Propels Terriers to 63-61 Win over Bucknell

January 1, 2022 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score Highlights, Coach Wilson/Mathon Postgame

BOSTON – Making his program record-breaking 130th appearance in the scarlet and white, graduate student Sukhmail Mathon posted a career-high 21 points and 18 rebounds to lead the Boston University men's basketball team to a 63-61 home win over Bucknell on Saturday afternoon in the Patriot League opener for both squads.

Mathon's seven offensive rebounds, including a critical one at 58 seconds, helped the Terriers (10-4, 1-0 PL) post a 14-8 advantage in second-chance points and claim their fourth straight win against the Bison (3-10, 0-1 PL) in the down-to-the-wire matchup.

Fellow graduate student Javante McCoy tallied 17 points and three assists, while senior Walter Whyte recorded 10 points and eight rebounds after missing the previous eight games due to injury. BU overcame 24-of-63 (.381) shooting by going 10-of-13 (.769) at the charity stripe, limiting Bucknell (35.9 3FG%) to 2-of-16 in 3-point territory and winning the battle at the boards, 42-35.

Bucknell's Andrew Funk entered the game averaging three 3-pointers per game and was held to 0-for-7 from behind the arc but still finished the game with a game-high 25 points on 11-of-14 shooting inside the arc while adding three steals. Andre Screen posted 10 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three blocks. Josh Adoh added 10 points off the bench as well.

DOWN THE STRETCH

After Mathon hit BU's final field goal at 6:32, McCoy flushed two free throws a minute later to maintain the eight-point advantage (60-52) before the Bison chipped away with Screen's slam dunk at 5:09 and Funk's driving layup following a steal at 3:49.
Elvin Edmonds IV flushed a contested 3-pointer with a hand in his face to cut BU's lead to 60-59 at 2:09.
After the teams exchanged empty possessions, BU missed another jump shot, but Mathon grabbed the offensive rebound and hit two clutch free throws.
Funk though responded with a jumper, and following a called BU timeout, Edmonds intercepted a pass in the paint with 12 seconds left to give Bucknell a chance at victory.
Funk attempted a 3-pointer but was off the mark, as Mathon hauled in the rebound.
Mathon went 1-of-2 from the line with two seconds left in regulation, hitting the first shot and missing the second, but sophomore Miles Brewster got the offensive rebound to seal the win and prevent any chance of a Bison miracle.

THE SETUP

The Terriers jumped out to an early 11-4 lead at 14:40 off Tynen's pull up jumper, but the Bison responded with a 16-3 run capped by Xander Rice's two free throws at 8:55 to pull ahead, 20-14.
Facing a 24-18 deficit, with 6:20 remaining in the half, the Terriers reeled off eight straight points with McCoy hitting back-to-back shots and sophomore Caelan Jones earning both a block and assist on senior Jonas Harper's fastbreak layup.
Mathon's turnaround jumnper with 59 seconds left gave BU a 34-29 halftime advantage.
Whyte and McCoy hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions early in the second half to extend the lead to 44-35 with 17:15 remaining.
Freshman Malcolm Chimezie's emphatic slam dunk on a nice underneath feed from Whyte gave BU its first double-digit lead of the game at 14:14, 50-39.
Junior Ethan Brittain-Watts extended it to 53-41 a minute later with a 3-pointer in what proved to be BU's last field goal over the next six minutes.
With just a 53-50 lead, Jones flushed a critical 3-pointer to break the drought and followed up with a steal on Bucknell's next possession.

GAME NOTES

Mathon has yet to miss a single game since the start of the 2017-18 season while setting a new program record for games played, topping the 129 held by John Papale ('16), Dom Morris ('14) and John Holland ('11).
Mathon's 18 rebounds matched Nathan Dieudonne ('16) for the most by a Terrier in the 21st century after Dieudonne hit the mark at Army his final season.
McCoy moved past Max Mahoney ('20) for No. 7 all-time in the program record book at 1,561 points and is 80 away from No. 6 and BU Hall of Famer Steven Wright ('80).
Whyte needs just 13 points to become the 40th Terrier to reach the 1,000-point milestone.
Bucknell now leads the all-time series, 13-9, after BU earned its fifth win in the last six meetings.

UP NEXT

The Terriers will visit Navy on Tuesday (Jan. 4) at 7 p.m. in a matchup of the Patriot League's two top-150 NCAA NET ranking teams.
Highlighted by a win at ACC power Virginia, the 8-4 Midshipmen are currently at No. 90 with the Terriers at No. 140.
BU won the last meeting at home in the 2020 PL quarterfinals, 69-63, en route to the tournament crown.