Mids dogged by poor shooting in home loss
BU continues Annapolis win streak, sending Navy into fifth place
Sophomore forward Evan Wieck made a layup to give Navy an early 4-2 lead less than two minutes into the game on Saturday afternoon. Boston University coach Joe Jones went to a 2-3 matchup zone on the next possession and it changed the game.
Freshman guard Javante McCoy went 5-for-5 from the field in scoring 16 points as Boston University led for almost 35 of 40 minutes in beating Navy, 75-68, in front of 1,942 fans at Alumni Hall.
Sophomore forward Tyler Scanlon and senior guard Will Goff added 10 points apiece for the Terriers, who have now won five straight meetings with the Midshipmen in Annapolis.
Jones said BU has played zone about 90 percent of the time during conference contests. Navy coach Ed DeChellis said he installed a new offense specifically for the defense and was disappointed it did not produce more points.
“We worked on it for two days. We shot the heck out of it yesterday. I felt really good leaving practice,” DeChellis said. “We had wide open shots against the zone and couldn’t make a shot. We had open shot after open shot. It’s frustrating.”
Junior forward George Kiernan came off the bench to score 22 points on the strength of four 3-pointers to lead Navy, which shot 42 percent (26-for-62) from the field. Senior forward Tom Lacey scored 12 points and grabbed a season-high 16 rebounds for the Midshipmen (13-8, 4-4), who fell to fifth place in the Patriot League.
Navy’s top three perimeters players struggled with starting guards Hasan Abdullah, Bryce Dulin and Shawn Anderson going 8-for-30 from the field. The Midshipmen were 8-for-27 from 3-point range with Abdullah and Dulin combining to shoot 2-for-12.
“We did a decent job of contesting all the shots they were taking and did a good job of defensive rebounding,” Jones said. “We just tried to keep them in front of us, tried to do a good job along the baseline because that’s where they like to hurt you. They like to throw it to the baseline then cut guys through.”
Power forwards Max Mahoney and Nick Havener both contributed nine points to a balanced attack for Boston (10-9, 6-2), which maintained sole possession of second place in the Patriot League. The Terriers earned a tough road victory even though leading scorer Cedric Hankerson played just five minutes after aggravating a hamstring injury.
“We were coming off one of our worst performances of the season so I was concerned about our players not losing confidence,” said Jones said. “I was happy and pleased with what I saw today. It was a focused team from start to finish.” BOSTON U. 75, NAVY 68 BOSTON U. (10-9): Scanlon 3-7 3-5 10, Mahoney 4-8 1-3 9, McCoy 5-5 5-5 16, Hankerson 1-2 0-0 3, Whyte 2-7 0-0 4, Havener 3-4 3-4 9, Mathon 1-3 0-0 2, Johnson 2-3 2-3 8, Goff 3-5 2-2 10, Petcash 1-1 1-2 4. Totals 25-45 17-24 75.
NAVY (13-8): Lacey 5-7 2-5 12, Wieck 2-2 0-0 4, Dulin 1-7 0-0 3, Abdullah 3-13 0-0 7, Anderson 4-10 2-2 10, Riemersma 1-1 0-0 2, Kiernan 7-14 4-4 22, Fox 0-0 0-0 0, Pearson 1-2 0-0 3, Davis 2-6 0-0 5. Totals 26-62 8-11 68.
Halftime—Boston U. 29-27. 3-Point Goals—Boston U. 8-14 (Johnson 2-3, Goff 2-4, Petcash 1-1, McCoy 1-1, Hankerson 1-1, Scanlon 1-3, Whyte 0-1), Navy 8-27 (Kiernan 4-9, Pearson 1-1, Dulin 1-5, Davis 1-5, Abdullah 1-7). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds— Boston U. 29 (Johnson 5), Navy 31 (Lacey 16). Assists—Boston U. 18 (Scanlon 6), Navy 17 (Abdullah 8). Total Fouls—Boston U. 12, Navy 23. A—1,942 (5,710).