Saturday, February 29
Boston, Mass.
12 p.m.
Bucknell University
12-19, 8-10PL
71
at
74
Boston University
18-13, 12-6PL
1
2
F
Bucknell
30
41
71
Boston University
25
49
74
Photo by: Jon Lambert
Boston University Comes from Behind for 74-71 Win over Men's Basketball, Bison to Host PL Tourney Game Tuesday
2/29/2020 2:20:00 PM | Men's Basketball
BUY PATRIOT LEAGUE TOURNAMENT TICKETS
BOSTON, Mass. – Javante McCoy hit the tying and go-ahead jumpers in the final two minutes to lift Boston University to a 74-71 victory over Bucknell on Saturday at Case Gym in the final game of the Patriot League men's basketball regular season. Jimmy Sotos tallied 19 points for the Bison, who will be seeded either seventh of eighth in the Patriot League Tournament and host a first-round game at Sojka Pavilion on Tuesday night.
The Bison (12-19, 8-10 PL) led by as many as 16 points in the second half, and the margin was still 15 after a John Meeks 3-pointer made it 66-51 with 7:54 to play. But that would be Bucknell's last field goal of the day, as Boston University (18-13, 12-6 PL) finished the game on a 23-5 run.
Andrew Funk scored 15 points and Walter Ellis added 11 for the Bison, who played very well in long stretches against the league's co-second-place team before running out of steam in the final minutes.
The Terriers started 1-for-8 from 3-point distance before hitting 4 of 5 down the stretch. Ethan Brittan-Watts made two big ones in the last eight minutes, and Jonas Harper cut the margin to 71-69 with 2:49 left. After a Bison turnover, McCoy hit a 15-footer to tie it.
Avi Toomer came up with two big offensive rebounds to keep Bucknell's next possession alive, but the Bison couldn't get one to drop, and then McCoy hit again from the mid-range to give Boston University a 73-71 lead with 27 seconds left.
Sotos hit back iron on a 3-pointer from the top of the key, and Max Mahoney split a pair at the foul line. Down three, the Bison went to Ellis on the right wing, but his off-balance three wouldn't go as time expired.
Bucknell's Patriot League Tournament seed will be determined by games played later in the day. The Bison will be the No. 7 seed and play Holy Cross in the first round if Navy defeats Lafayette or Loyola loses to Lehigh. Bucknell will be the No. 8 seed and play Lehigh if Lafayette defeats Navy and Loyola beats Lehigh.
"That's obviously a tough way to finish after we played so well for about 32 or 33 minutes," said head coach Nathan Davis. "Give Boston University a lot of credit for making shots, but from our perspective some of the issues that have hampered us throughout the season cropped up again late in the game. We need to take the positives from some pretty good play over the last five games of the season and continue to work on the other areas. The silver lining is that we get one more opportunity to play in front of our home fans on Tuesday night, and let's see if we can make a run in March."
Bucknell got out to a strong start, thanks in large part to its bench. Leading 9-7 after a Meeks free throw coming out of the under-16 break, the Bison sandwiched 3-pointers from reserves Walter Ellis and Xander Rice around a tip-in from Kahliel Spear.
That 9-0 run stretch the margin to 17-7, and the lead soon grew to 11 at 20-9 after a Toomer 3-pointer at the 11:24 mark.
The Terriers struck back with a 16-4 run and grabbed their first lead of the day at 25-24 on a Walter Whyte layup with 3:55 left. Bucknell shut them out the rest for the rest of the half, however. Toomer answered the Whyte bucket with a tough fadeaway, and Funk and Ellis followed with buckets to give the Bison a 30-25 lead at halftime.
Bucknell extended its cushion back into double figures early in the second half thanks to a nice stretch from Funk and Paul Newman. Funk hit a 3-pointer, and then Newman stole a pass near midcourt that led to two free throws for Sotos. Then Funk made a sweet backdoor pass to Newman for a layup and a 42-30 lead.
Sotos' 17-footer made the Bison 6-for-7 in the half, and another Newman layup followed by an Ellis 3-pointer sent the lead all the way to 16 at 59-43 with 10:26 to go.
The Bison shot 44.8 percent overall and went 8-for-21 from the 3-point arc and 11-for-18 from the foul line. Boston University used 65.4-percent shooting in the second half to finish at 53.7 percent for the game. The Terriers were 5-for-14 from the arc and 11-for-17 from the line.
Mahoney logged a double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds. McCoy added 18 points and White 13 for the Terriers.
BOSTON, Mass. – Javante McCoy hit the tying and go-ahead jumpers in the final two minutes to lift Boston University to a 74-71 victory over Bucknell on Saturday at Case Gym in the final game of the Patriot League men's basketball regular season. Jimmy Sotos tallied 19 points for the Bison, who will be seeded either seventh of eighth in the Patriot League Tournament and host a first-round game at Sojka Pavilion on Tuesday night.
The Bison (12-19, 8-10 PL) led by as many as 16 points in the second half, and the margin was still 15 after a John Meeks 3-pointer made it 66-51 with 7:54 to play. But that would be Bucknell's last field goal of the day, as Boston University (18-13, 12-6 PL) finished the game on a 23-5 run.
Andrew Funk scored 15 points and Walter Ellis added 11 for the Bison, who played very well in long stretches against the league's co-second-place team before running out of steam in the final minutes.
The Terriers started 1-for-8 from 3-point distance before hitting 4 of 5 down the stretch. Ethan Brittan-Watts made two big ones in the last eight minutes, and Jonas Harper cut the margin to 71-69 with 2:49 left. After a Bison turnover, McCoy hit a 15-footer to tie it.
Avi Toomer came up with two big offensive rebounds to keep Bucknell's next possession alive, but the Bison couldn't get one to drop, and then McCoy hit again from the mid-range to give Boston University a 73-71 lead with 27 seconds left.
Sotos hit back iron on a 3-pointer from the top of the key, and Max Mahoney split a pair at the foul line. Down three, the Bison went to Ellis on the right wing, but his off-balance three wouldn't go as time expired.
Bucknell's Patriot League Tournament seed will be determined by games played later in the day. The Bison will be the No. 7 seed and play Holy Cross in the first round if Navy defeats Lafayette or Loyola loses to Lehigh. Bucknell will be the No. 8 seed and play Lehigh if Lafayette defeats Navy and Loyola beats Lehigh.
"That's obviously a tough way to finish after we played so well for about 32 or 33 minutes," said head coach Nathan Davis. "Give Boston University a lot of credit for making shots, but from our perspective some of the issues that have hampered us throughout the season cropped up again late in the game. We need to take the positives from some pretty good play over the last five games of the season and continue to work on the other areas. The silver lining is that we get one more opportunity to play in front of our home fans on Tuesday night, and let's see if we can make a run in March."
Bucknell got out to a strong start, thanks in large part to its bench. Leading 9-7 after a Meeks free throw coming out of the under-16 break, the Bison sandwiched 3-pointers from reserves Walter Ellis and Xander Rice around a tip-in from Kahliel Spear.
That 9-0 run stretch the margin to 17-7, and the lead soon grew to 11 at 20-9 after a Toomer 3-pointer at the 11:24 mark.
The Terriers struck back with a 16-4 run and grabbed their first lead of the day at 25-24 on a Walter Whyte layup with 3:55 left. Bucknell shut them out the rest for the rest of the half, however. Toomer answered the Whyte bucket with a tough fadeaway, and Funk and Ellis followed with buckets to give the Bison a 30-25 lead at halftime.
Bucknell extended its cushion back into double figures early in the second half thanks to a nice stretch from Funk and Paul Newman. Funk hit a 3-pointer, and then Newman stole a pass near midcourt that led to two free throws for Sotos. Then Funk made a sweet backdoor pass to Newman for a layup and a 42-30 lead.
Sotos' 17-footer made the Bison 6-for-7 in the half, and another Newman layup followed by an Ellis 3-pointer sent the lead all the way to 16 at 59-43 with 10:26 to go.
The Bison shot 44.8 percent overall and went 8-for-21 from the 3-point arc and 11-for-18 from the foul line. Boston University used 65.4-percent shooting in the second half to finish at 53.7 percent for the game. The Terriers were 5-for-14 from the arc and 11-for-17 from the line.
Mahoney logged a double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds. McCoy added 18 points and White 13 for the Terriers.
Team Stats
BUCKN
BOSTONU
FG%
.448
.537
3FG%
.381
.357
FT%
.611
.647
RB
33
32
TO
10
9
STL
8
4
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
19
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
6
Pts
15
FGM
5
3FGM
2
FTM
3
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
1
Pts
6
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballC
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
G
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