Losing its fourth game in the last five, the AU men’s basketball team continued their downward spiral after a 71-62 loss to Boston University on the road Feb. 19.
AU is now No. 2 in the Patriot League as Boston University takes the No. 1 slot.
“BU is a very good team,” head coach Mike Brennan told Aueagles.com. “They played well, and while I thought we knocked down some shots and our offense was ok tonight, we did not make the plays down the stretch needed in order to win.”
The first half started with AU (15-11, 11-4 PL) looking strong, outscoring BU (20-8, 13-2 PL) and playing good defense. With 9:19 to go in the half, junior guard Darius Gardner made a three-pointer to give AU their largest lead of the game at 22-12.
At this stage, AU looked as if it would comfortably win but with four minutes to go, senior center Tony Wroblicky suffered a head laceration and missed the rest of the first half. The injury changed the momentum of the game in BU’s favor. The Terriers closed out the half on an 8-0 run to go cut the deficit to 32-31.
The Terriers built off the momentum of the first half went on a 14-5 run to start, giving them a 45-37 lead that they would not relinquish throughout the rest of the game. After initial struggles, AU managed to stem the bleeding and not allow the deficit to grow much further and closed the deficit to 48-53 with 6:38 left after a 3-pointer by junior guard John Schoof.
In the closing minutes, AU fouled in an a last ditch attempt at a comeback, but BU made all but one of its free throws and the game ended with a final score of 71-62.
Wroblicky and sophomore guard Jesse Reed ended the game in double digits each scoring 13. Wroblicky also led the team in rebounds with seven and Gardner led AU in assists with five.
AU was outrebounded 40-24, as well as allowing BU to record 14 second chance points compared to only five for AU. BU also scored 15 points on turnovers, highlighting one of the main causes of AU’s recent slump.
The next game for AU will be Feb. 22 at Bender Arena as they take on the United States Military Academy for the annual Hall of Fame Day.
