Saturday, February 1
Lewisburg, Pa.
2 p.m.
Bucknell University
9-14,5-5Patriot
57
vs
77
Boston University
13-10,7-3Patriot
1
2
F
Boston U.
39
38
77
Bucknell
33
24
57
Photo by: Marc Hagemeier
Men's Basketball Falls to Boston University, 77-57
2/1/2020 4:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Max Mahoney scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Boston University men's basketball team to a 77-57 win over Bucknell in Patriot League action Saturday afternoon at Sojka Pavilion. The Terriers opened the second half on a 24-5 run to extend a six-point halftime advantage to a 63-38 lead. Avi Toomer led the Bison with 16 points, followed by Andrew Funk with 11 and Jimmy Sotos with 10.
Bucknell (9-14, 5-5 PL) trailed just 39-33 at halftime, but Boston University forced 13 turnovers in the second half. The first eight minutes were the difference. The Terriers (13-10, 7-3 PL) went 11-for-14 from the field and 2-for-2 from the 3-point arc in that stretch, while the Bison went 2-for-8 with eight turnovers.
Boston University, which has now won three straight games without trailing in any of them, also received 15 points from Javante McCoy and 12 from Walter Whyte. Mahoney, who was coming off a 29-point game against Loyola, went 8-for-12 from the field in this one and scored 14 of his 18 points in the first half.
The Terries led by as many as 11 in the first half at 33-22, but the Bison hung around by making four of their final five 3-point attempts. A three by Walter Ellis with 41 seconds to go pulled Bucknell within 39-33, and the Bison closed out the half with a good defensive stand, forcing a shot-clock violation.
But the game got away from Bucknell in the first few possessions of the second half. Mahoney beat the shot clock with a layup, and then he jumped a passing lane for a steal. That led to a Jonas Harper 3-pointer, which pushed the margin right back up to 11.
Two buckets by McCoy and a short jumper by Sukhmail Mathon made it an 11-0 run to start the half and a 50-33 lead for the Terriers. By the time Ethan Brittain-Watts turned a steal into a breakaway layup with 12:29 to play, Boston University had a commanding 25-point lead.
Bucknell's brightest stretch in the second half came during a 10-0 run that included eight straight points from Toomer and a nice fastbreak dunk from Bruce Moore. But that only sliced the deficit to 19, and Boston University went on to become the first team to hand Bucknell a 20-point home loss since Holy Cross won 69-45 in Davis Gym on Jan. 17, 2001.
"Give Coach Jones and his staff and team a lot of credit, I thought they played really well," said head coach Nathan Davis. "I thought they played together and they played with great purpose. I thought we had a chance to do some things in the first half. We had some pretty good possessions. We were guarding pretty well, they made some shots anyway, and we missed some layups. Then at the start of the second half they got three baskets and we had two turnovers and a shot where we didn't touch the paint. It took us 12 minutes to come out of it."
The Bison played without leading scorer John Meeks due to illness. They finished the day 8-for-20 (.400) from 3-point range but just 14-for-34 (.412) inside the arc. Boston University shot 55.9 percent overall, went 6-for-13 from 3-point distance and finished with a 48-24 edge in points in the paint.
Bucknell returns to action on Monday at home against Lafayette. The 7 p.m. contest will be televised on CBS Sports Network.
Gallery: (2/1/2020) Men's Basketball vs. Boston University
Bucknell (9-14, 5-5 PL) trailed just 39-33 at halftime, but Boston University forced 13 turnovers in the second half. The first eight minutes were the difference. The Terriers (13-10, 7-3 PL) went 11-for-14 from the field and 2-for-2 from the 3-point arc in that stretch, while the Bison went 2-for-8 with eight turnovers.
Boston University, which has now won three straight games without trailing in any of them, also received 15 points from Javante McCoy and 12 from Walter Whyte. Mahoney, who was coming off a 29-point game against Loyola, went 8-for-12 from the field in this one and scored 14 of his 18 points in the first half.
The Terries led by as many as 11 in the first half at 33-22, but the Bison hung around by making four of their final five 3-point attempts. A three by Walter Ellis with 41 seconds to go pulled Bucknell within 39-33, and the Bison closed out the half with a good defensive stand, forcing a shot-clock violation.
But the game got away from Bucknell in the first few possessions of the second half. Mahoney beat the shot clock with a layup, and then he jumped a passing lane for a steal. That led to a Jonas Harper 3-pointer, which pushed the margin right back up to 11.
Two buckets by McCoy and a short jumper by Sukhmail Mathon made it an 11-0 run to start the half and a 50-33 lead for the Terriers. By the time Ethan Brittain-Watts turned a steal into a breakaway layup with 12:29 to play, Boston University had a commanding 25-point lead.
Bucknell's brightest stretch in the second half came during a 10-0 run that included eight straight points from Toomer and a nice fastbreak dunk from Bruce Moore. But that only sliced the deficit to 19, and Boston University went on to become the first team to hand Bucknell a 20-point home loss since Holy Cross won 69-45 in Davis Gym on Jan. 17, 2001.
"Give Coach Jones and his staff and team a lot of credit, I thought they played really well," said head coach Nathan Davis. "I thought they played together and they played with great purpose. I thought we had a chance to do some things in the first half. We had some pretty good possessions. We were guarding pretty well, they made some shots anyway, and we missed some layups. Then at the start of the second half they got three baskets and we had two turnovers and a shot where we didn't touch the paint. It took us 12 minutes to come out of it."
The Bison played without leading scorer John Meeks due to illness. They finished the day 8-for-20 (.400) from 3-point range but just 14-for-34 (.412) inside the arc. Boston University shot 55.9 percent overall, went 6-for-13 from 3-point distance and finished with a 48-24 edge in points in the paint.
Bucknell returns to action on Monday at home against Lafayette. The 7 p.m. contest will be televised on CBS Sports Network.
Team Stats
BU
Buck
FG%
.559
.407
3FG%
.462
.400
FT%
.714
.556
RB
34
27
TO
12
17
STL
10
8
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
16
FGM
6
3FGM
3
FTM
1
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
1
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
6
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
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