Javante McCoy handles the ball with a Hartford defender on his left trying to stick a hand at the ball.
Meg Kelly
78
Boston U. BU 20-11,11-7 Patriot
89
Winner Bucknell Buck 8-22,5-13 Patriot
Boston U. BU
20-11,11-7 Patriot
78
Final
89
Bucknell Buck
8-22,5-13 Patriot
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Boston U. BU 41 37 78
Bucknell Buck 37 52 89

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Bucknell Pulls Away Late to Defeat Men's Basketball in Regular Season Finale, 89-78

LEWISBURG, Pa. – Despite graduate student Javante McCoy leading all players with 23 points and classmate Sukhmail Mathon claiming his conference-leading 16th double-double, the Boston University men's basketball team ended the regular season with an 89-78 loss at Bucknell on Saturday afternoon.

The Bison (8-22, 5-13 PL) overcame a four-point halftime deficit by shooting 54.9 percent from the field and utilizing a 10-1 run to break a 63-63 deadlock late in the contest to avenge an earlier 63-61 loss to the Terriers (20-11, 11-7 PL). After hitting just three free throws in the first half at the charity stripe, Bucknell went 23-of-27 in the second to improve to 7-6 at home.

McCoy went 10-of-20 with three assists, while Mathon shot 8-of-13 to earn 17 points alongside a game-high 13 rebounds. Senior Walter Whyte was the third Terrier in double figures at 13 points, as BU finished the game 30-of-68 (.441) and 7-of-25 (.280) in 3-point territory.

Bucknell featured five men in double figures with Xander Rice overcoming a 3-of-9 performance in the field by shooting 11-of-13 at the charity stripe for team-high 19 points. Andrew Funk added 15, five assists and five rebounds, while both Elvin Edmonds IV and Alex Timmerman posted 13 points apiece. The Bison outscored BU in bench production, 27-12.

HOW IT HAPPENED
  • Four different Terriers scored in the first two minutes for an early 8-0 lead, which was extended to 22-13 at 12:06 on Mathon's layup.
  • Facing a 24-15 deficit, the Bison scored 12 straight to pull ahead, 27-24, at 7:17. 
  • McCoy and Mathon combined for BU's final 14 points to help the Terriers enter the locker room ahead, 41-37.
  • Whyte extended BU's lead to 47-38 on two free throws with 17:51 remaining, but the Bison responded with a 19-4 run over the next eight minutes.
  • Whyte and Harper flushed back-to-back 3-pointers to tie the game, 63-63, with 6:55 left before Ian Motta took the lead for good on his own bucket from behind the arc to spark an 10-1 run capped by Edmonds' floater at 4:17.
  • Harper added another 3-pointer at 1:41 to cut the deficit to 77-74, but Andre Screen made a tough hook shot and the Bison forced a turnover.
  • Bucknell hit 10 free throws in the final 53 seconds to seal the win.
GAME NOTES
  • Late in the first half, Mathon became the third active and 41st overall Terrier to reach 1,000 career points. He currently ranks No. 3 all-time at BU with 837 rebounds and No. 7 for rebounds in a season at 319 total this year.
  • McCoy is 50 points away from becoming the fourth at BU to reach 1,900, while Whyte is now the 20th to eclipse 1,200 points.
  • The Bison snapped a four-game losing streak to the Terriers to improve to 14-9 all-time in the series.
UP NEXT
  • Having secured the No. 3 seed, BU will next host No. 6 Loyola Maryland on Thursday (March 3) at 7 p.m. in the PL quarterfinals.
  • The road team won both meetings in January.
  • BU is 2-0 all-time against the Greyhounds in the PL tourney, winning in 2017 in the quarterfinals and in the 2019 first round.  

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