Post-Growl Stories

[Dane Pound]

Scoring woes drag on-TU

Danes aces in drawing full house-TU

 

From the BU site:

 

Hassan's Career-High 19 Not Enough as Men's Hoops Falls to Albany, 71-60

 

ALBANY, N.Y. – Jamar Wilson scored 22 points to lead Albany to a 71-60 victory over the Boston University men’s basketball team Saturday night. The Terriers dropped their third straight game and fell to 8-14 on the season, 5-6 in the America East. League-leader Albany, which swept BU for the first time ever, improved to 14-8, 9-2. The game was played in front of 4,538, the largest crowd ever to see a college game at the Recreation and Convocation Center.

 

Kevin Gardner scored a game-high 22 points for BU, while freshman guard Corey Hassan scored a career-high 19. Wilson, the second-leading scorer in the America East at 17.0 ppg coming in, was held to just three at halftime, but exploded for 19 in the second half. Jason Siggers added 19 for the Great Danes, all coming in the second half.

 

“Our kids showed tremendous character tonight by not folding in the face of a hostile crowd and the way the game was going,” said BU head coach Dennis Wolff. “I thought Gardner and Hassan could not have played any better. This was Corey’s best game of the year.”

 

Albany used a 16-0 run in the first half to take control of the game, and BU was never able to completely recover. The Terriers found themselves down 17-4 with 12:30 left in the first half after UA made seven of eight shots and BU went nearly seven minutes without scoring.

 

Hassan ended the drought with a jumper, then scored seven consecutive points to lead a 9-0 run and bring the Terriers within four, 21-17. The Great Danes would take a 26-19 lead into the halftime locker room, as the Terriers shot just 31% (8-26) from the field in the opening 20 minutes.

 

Albany opened the second half on a 20-6 spurt to take its largest lead of the game, 46-25 with 13:24 remaining. The resilient Terriers did not quit, however, and a Hassan 3-pointer three minutes later cut the deficit to 12, 49-37. Then, with eight minutes remaining, Albany’s Lucious Jordan fouled Brian Macon and was whistled for a technical foul after taunting Macon on the play. BU made four straight free throws and drew within seven, 53-46.

 

A three-point play by Gardner keyed a 7-0 BU run, and the Terriers clawed even closer, 60-55 with 4:24 remaining, But a pair of 3-pointers by Siggers thwarted the BU comeback attempt, and the Terriers were sent to their fourth loss in their last five road games.

 

Hassan’s 19 points eclipsed his previous best of 18, set against New Hampshire on Dec. 8. Hassan had been averaging just 4.7 ppg in his last three outings. Gardner reached double figures for the ninth time in his last 10 games and is averaging 16.1 ppg in that span. BU shot 40.4% from the floor, including a solid 50% (13-26) in the second half.