BOSTON \u2013 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Sophomore Ben Defty<\/a> 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<\/a> claimed BU’s first points-assists double-double in over a decade with 10 points and a personal-best 12 helpers. Junior Michael McNair<\/a> scored at least 24 points for the third consecutive contest and sophomore Azmar Abdullah<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n Nasir Whitlock delivered the late-game heroics for\u00a0Lehigh with a 3-pointer to end both the first and second half\u00a0on 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.<\/p>\n HOW IT HAPPENED
GAME NOTES<\/p>\n
UP NEXT<\/p>\n
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\n<\/p>\n
\n\tOwning a 5-4 early lead with 15:53\u00a0left in the first half, Whitlock hit two 3-pointers\u00a0as part of an 8-0 spurt capped by his layup at 13:52.
\n\tAfter 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.\u00a0
\n\tThe 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.
\n\tFacing 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.
\n\tAfter exchanging 3-pointers and short buckets,\u00a0Lehigh\u00a0grabbed\u00a0its final lead of regulation, 71-70,\u00a0on Whitlock’s drive to the hoop at 1:41.
\n\tGladden then set up Defty’s slam dunk and took advantage of Defty’s\u00a0second block with a layup for 74-71 lead.
\n\tMcNair forced a turnover with 39 seconds left, but the Mountain Hawks successfully defended BU into attempting a\u00a0tough shot\u00a0attempt and tied the game on Whitlock’s 3-pointer.
\n\tLehigh never trailed in the extra session, as Jalen Vazquez opened\u00a0with a 3-pointer.
\n\tTrailing 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.
\n\tWhitlock broke the deadlock on a jumper and\u00a0joined Vazquez and Benoit in combining for 10 free throws on 10 attempts to seal the win.
<\/p>\n
\n\tDefty’s 26 points topped his previous record high of 20 tallied in the season-opening overtime win at Northeastern, and his\u00a0double-double marked his second in conference play after he tallied 10 points and rebounds against American.
\n\tGladden’s 12 assists mark the most by a Terrier since Maurice Watson Jr. earned 12 against Illinois in the 2014 NIT opener.
\n\tWith graduate student Malcolm Chimezie<\/a> 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<\/a>.
\n\tThe Terriers went 21-for-26 (.808) at the free throw line, while Lehigh hit 20 of its 23 attempts for 87.0 shooting percentage.\u00a0
\n\tBU is now 1-2 in OT\u00a0contests this year, as\u00a0Lehigh 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.
\n\tBesides dropping to 6-4 on the\u00a0season 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<\/a> when reaching 90+ points.
<\/p>\n
\n\tBU will fly down to Baltimore to face Loyola Maryland on Saturday (Jan. 17) at 1 p.m.
\n\tThe last five matchups have been decided by a combined 10 points with BU prevailing in four of the meetings.
\n\tLast year, BU rebounded from a 69-67 road loss with a 68-66 home victory that featured junior Kyrone Alexander<\/a> totaling 20 points alongside team-high six rebounds.
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