Lehigh Edges Men's Basketball in OT Thriller, 93-91

Wednesday, January 14

Boston, MA

6 PM

Boston University

7-11,2-3Patriot

Lehigh

7-11,3-2Patriot

OT 1

Lehigh

Boston U.

Photo by: Dan Koerner

Lehigh Edges Men's Basketball in OT Thriller, 93-91

January 14, 2026 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Highlights Coach Jones Postgame

BOSTON – Despite having a pair of double-doubles, the Boston University men's basketball team dropped a hard-fought 93-91 overtime matchup to Lehigh Wednesday night at Case Gym.

The Mountain Hawks (7-11, 3-2 PL) won the battle of two-game win streaks by nearly doubling the Terriers (7-11, 2-3 PL) in made 3-pointers with an 11-6 advantage, highlighted by a 30-foot bank shot before the buzzer in regulation, and shooting a perfect 12-for-12 at the charity stripe during overtime. BU shot 69.2 percent from the field during the final 25 minutes of action to overcome a 12-point deficit and held Lehigh to 48.5 percent during that same stretch of time but was unable to overcome the 11 turnovers committed against Lehigh's just six miscues.

Sophomore Ben Defty led the rally by totaling a career-high 26 points and a game-high 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season, while freshman Chance Gladden claimed BU's first points-assists double-double in over a decade with 10 points and a personal-best 12 helpers. Junior Michael McNair scored at least 24 points for the third consecutive contest and sophomore Azmar Abdullah posted 15 points, as the duo combined for 5-for-8 shooting in 3-point territory. Freshman Donte Tisinger added 10 points off the bench.

Nasir Whitlock delivered the late-game heroics for Lehigh with a 3-pointer to end both the first and second half on his way to a game-high 30 points. Edouard Benoit went 9-for-10 in free throw attempts and ended the contest two rebounds shy of a double-double with 23 points. Both Joshua Ingram (16 pts.) and Hank Alvey (10 pts.) also scored in double figures.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Owning a 5-4 early lead with 15:53 left in the first half, Whitlock hit two 3-pointers as part of an 8-0 spurt capped by his layup at 13:52.
After Lehigh extended its lead to 29-17 at 5:18 on a steal and layup, BU battled back to within five (35-30) four minutes later on Gladden's two free throws.
The Mountain Hawks though scored the final seven points of the half with two layups and Whitlock's 3-pointer in the final seconds to enter the locker room ahead, 42-30.
Facing a 60-50 deficit after Ingram scored from behind the arc at 11:42, BU chipped away and eventually tied the game five minutes later, 64-64, on Defty's layup.
After exchanging 3-pointers and short buckets, Lehigh grabbed its final lead of regulation, 71-70, on Whitlock's drive to the hoop at 1:41.
Gladden then set up Defty's slam dunk and took advantage of Defty's second block with a layup for 74-71 lead.
McNair forced a turnover with 39 seconds left, but the Mountain Hawks successfully defended BU into attempting a tough shot attempt and tied the game on Whitlock's 3-pointer.
Lehigh never trailed in the extra session, as Jalen Vazquez opened with a 3-pointer.
Trailing by five (81-76) following Benoit's two free throws at 2:45, McNair scored a layup and drained a 3-pointer to tie the contest for the fourth and final time with 1:45 remaining.
Whitlock broke the deadlock on a jumper and joined Vazquez and Benoit in combining for 10 free throws on 10 attempts to seal the win.

GAME NOTES

Defty's 26 points topped his previous record high of 20 tallied in the season-opening overtime win at Northeastern, and his double-double marked his second in conference play after he tallied 10 points and rebounds against American.
Gladden's 12 assists mark the most by a Terrier since Maurice Watson Jr. earned 12 against Illinois in the 2014 NIT opener.
With graduate student Malcolm Chimezie out due to injury alongside six other injured teammates, BU only had eight Terriers available in uniform, including just two upperclassmen in McNair and junior Quinn Nielsen.
The Terriers went 21-for-26 (.808) at the free throw line, while Lehigh hit 20 of its 23 attempts for 87.0 shooting percentage.
BU is now 1-2 in OT contests this year, as Lehigh improved to 2-2. The Mountain Hawks are also now 5-1 all-time in OT against the Terriers with a perfect 4-0 road mark to cut BU's all-time series record to 17-11.
Besides dropping to 6-4 on the season when shooting 50+ percent from the field after posting a 6-2 record last season, the Terriers are now 24-1 all-time under head coach Joe Jones when reaching 90+ points.

UP NEXT

BU will fly down to Baltimore to face Loyola Maryland on Saturday (Jan. 17) at 1 p.m.
The last five matchups have been decided by a combined 10 points with BU prevailing in four of the meetings.
Last year, BU rebounded from a 69-67 road loss with a 68-66 home victory that featured junior Kyrone Alexander totaling 20 points alongside team-high six rebounds.