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Indiana took an early lead Friday night in Puerto Rico, but the Boston University Terriers kept nipping at their heels. The senior-laden opposition just kept sticking around, despite shooting just 21 percent from the field in the opening half and just 33 percent for the game. The Terriers were seemingly just waiting for their moment and when it came they seized it.
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Indiana took an early lead Friday night in Puerto Rico, but the Boston University Terriers kept nipping at their heels. The senior-laden opposition just kept sticking around, despite shooting just 21 percent from the field in the opening half and just 33 percent for the game. The Terriers were seemingly just waiting for their moment and when it came they seized it. A 16-5 Boston scoring run over the final five minutes was too much for the Hoosiers and led to the 71-67 loss.
“We don’t have that experience of guys that just absolutely know what it takes to win,” said Coach Tom Crean. “We are making strides, but I’m not going to talk about strides tonight. This is an embarrassing loss. They deserved it. They outworked us.”
Indiana heads into Sunday morning’s last place consolation game against George Mason at 2-2 on the season. It’s a position that Crean didn’t think his Hoosiers would find themselves in after leading the game most of the night.
“I don’t want to say they wanted it more than us, but they played more desperate,” said Crean of the Terriers late-game surge. “They got a very good team. There’s no way we should be losing the game. There’s no way we should have lost that game.”
Indiana seemed to have the upper-hand most of the night. They seized the lead on a Derek Elston bucket with just under 11 minutes to go in the first half and continued to lead until Carlos Strong drained a three-point basket to tie the game with three minutes left in the game. From there, though, it was the more experienced Terriers that seemed to come up with all the key plays in key moments. John Holland led Boston with 21 points and Jake O'Brien put up a big 14 points and 13 rebounds in the win.
“I appreciate the leadership that Jeremiah Rivers is trying to show, that Verdell Jones is trying to show,” said Crean. “I appreciate the talents of some of the young guys, but we have absolutely zero leadership from that point on and people just need to understand it. This is where it catches us. We don’t have seniors that understand how to win.”
Tied at 65 with just over two minutes to go Elston threw the ball away and then fouled on an inbounds pass moments later that sent forward Jake O’Brien to the line for the two go-ahead free throws. After a couple of wasted offensive possessions, the Hoosiers went man-to-man on defense (despite playing zone most of the night) and surrendered a back-breaking, wide-open lay-up for O’Brien with 56.5 seconds left that gave the Terriers a 69-65 lead.
The Hoosiers answered with a Christian Watford bucket inside the paint to trim the lead to two, but were then forced to foul down by two as the clock ticked down. Strong, a 50 percent free throw shooter, went to the line and missed his first attempt. Trailing by two with under 30 seconds to play Indiana got the ball to Maurice Creek, the team’s leading scorer once again, for a good look at 3 points, but the shot caromed off the rim. Creek, who had 17 points in the game’s first 13 minutes, went scoreless from that point on.
The Hoosiers would get a reprieve after Corey Lowe missed two free throws to give them the ball back with 17.4 seconds and a chance to take the lead, but once again the Hoosiers couldn’t execute in the halfcourt set. After passing the ball around briefly, Jones was forced to fire up a three-pointer in the final seconds that harmlessly sailed past the rim. The Hoosiers fouled with 1.3 seconds remaining and Lowe made one of two attempts to seal the game.
Besides a lack of late-game execution, the Hoosiers biggest problem was a complete waxing on the glass. After holding their own against a tall, athletic Mississippi team the night before, the Hoosiers looked outmatched against a smaller, but ultimately hungrier Boston team. The Terriers’ aggressiveness led to 42 free throw attempts, compared to just 22 for the Hoosiers.
“We gave up 19 offensive rebounds to this team,” said Crean.
“You’re not going to win the other team is plus 15 from the foul line and you’re minus 20 on the boards and the second chance points are 19-3. It’s just not going to happen.”
And for the second time in as many nights in Puerto Rico, it didn’t.
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