ORONO, Maine — There are many reasons why Boston University was the preseason pick to repeat as the America East men’s basketball champion.
Wednesday night, two of the most prominent “reasons” lit up the University of Maine at Alfond Arena.
Darryl Partin poured in 27 points and backcourt mate D.J. Irving tossed in 23 to carry the Terriers to a 77-68 victory over the Black Bears with a good midweek crowd looking on.
“He’s [Partin] the type of guy when he gets into a rhythm like that, you’ve got to try to find him,” said BU coach Joe Jones.
“When he has it going like that and D.J. has it going like that, we really need to play through those guys,” he added.
Partin scored 24 points during a span of 9½ minutes in the second half to provide the impetus for Boston University’s offensive show.
The Terriers (6-11, 2-1 AE) shot 58 percent (15-for-26) in the second half, including a sizzling 9-for-11 from 3-point land, while taking command.
“He’s a tremendous player,” said UMaine coach Ted Woodward. “We know he’s a first-team all-conference guy, preseason first-team all-conference guy, potential player of the year candidate.”
“D.J. Irving was doing a great job attacking, they were spreading us out with some of the other guys that stepped up and made some 3s,” he added. “I thought they did a great job sharing the basketball.”
Boston University also outrebounded UMaine 36-30 and scored 19 points as a result of an uncharacteristic 15 turnovers by the Bears.
UMaine (8-6, 2-1 AE) could not find the defensive answers to Boston University’s high-powered guard tandem. The hosts also had trouble operating against the Terriers’ solid man-to-man defense.
“That’s a mature basketball team that was picked to win our league and they certainly proved why, I believe, tonight,” Woodward said.
The Bears played well in the first half, but Irving banked in a half-court heave as time expired to trim UMaine’s lead from nine points to six (33-27). It proved to be the spark for the Terriers’ fireworks.
“That was huge,” Partin conceded.
“I’m not saying that it deflated us, but it certainly got them energized to have that type of thing,” Woodward agreed. “All of a sudden they’re down six instead of down nine and they really came out in the second half with a lot of energy.”
Partin wound up going 6-for-7 from beyond the arc and Irving complemented his offense with a career-high 11 assists. Matt Griffin contributed 10 points.
McLemore paced a balanced but somewhat disjointed UMaine offense with 17 points, while Alasdair Fraser contributed 14 points and eight rebounds. Justin Edwards posted 10 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, while Mike Allison added 10 points.
The Bears shot 52 percent (28-for-54) for the night and racked up 21 assists on 28 field goals.
The Terriers established plenty of confidence during a pivotal 18-6 run early in the second half.
UMaine led 35-27 when Irving, who scored 14 points prior to intermission, kicked off the surge with a 16-foot jumper. Partin, who went 1-for-10 from the field in the first half, then opened his personal barrage with a 10-foot runner from the lane.
Edwards dunked a McLemore miss to counter for the Bears, but two Patrick Hazel free throws and a Partin 3-pointer in transition got BU within a point at 37-36 with 17:50 to play.
After UMaine’s Allison made a layup and BU’s Travis Robinson stuck a 3-pointer, Partin and Malik Thomas hit back-to-back 3s to put the Terriers in front for good at 45-41.
McLemore said Partin’s teammates were effective in getting him open and he made the shots.
“Second half, they started calling a lot of double screens for him, stagger screens,” McLemore explained. “It’s very difficult to stay on his hip. I give credit to the big guys, they definitely wanted to seek out the guard. They don’t screen an area, they screen a man, so he definitely got hot. All credit to him, he’s a tremendous player.”
Partin and Co. eventually extended the margin to 17 points during a 15-0 burst that included a layup and three 3-pointers by Partin during a span of 3 1/2 minutes.
“The first half I knew I was missing a lot of shots and I was like, man, come on. I couldn’t wait for the second half to start,” Partin said.
“You’ve just got to keep confident, keep playing through it,” he added.
The Bears didn’t fold and fought back to make it a two-possession game in the final minute, but the Terriers held on.
In the first half, UMaine limited the Terriers to 32 percent shooting (11-for-34) with a defensive combination of man-to-man and a 3-2 matchup zone.
Irving was able to work himself free to the tune of 14 points on 6-for-9 shooting, but the rest of the Terriers combined to shoot 5-for-23 from the floor.
The Bears were tested by BU’s defense, but excelled with their transition game.
UMaine surged out to a 10-point lead with an 11-2 run late in the half. McLemore opened the spurt with an 18-foot jumper, then Edwards threw in a baseline runner. McLemore drained a 3-pointer in transition before Irving broke the skein with a nifty finger roll in the lane.
However, Fraser made a baseline layup off a McLemore feed and McLemore scored from close range on a pass from Edwards to make it 31-21 with 2:35 left in the half.
I think it’s finally time to acknowledge the powers of Nostrajimus, don’t you?
It’s not rocket science!!! ;)
Major screw up by the administration to not play BU in the PIT after Woodward spouts off about the home court advantage that the The ArmPIT provides, but instead they choose to go for the extra dollars that the Cricket Arena MIGHT provide. Nice crowd BTW ;)
I love Abbott, but I hope he comes out and says they should have moved this VERY VERY important game into the PIT, and took the 3.5 pt (home court advantage) head start.
Pretty sure that won’t happen though.
Trust me, the venue made no difference last night. BU was on fire in the second half. The PIT is a dump, accept it and move on. Also when I walked in last night, I realized how much nicer the Alfond is now with all the shiny new stuff. I bet the attendance would have been way down if the game was in Memorial Gym.
They r just giving away “W”‘s by not utilizing the atmosphere that the PIT SHOULD provide
The venue ultimately doesn’t matter. Both venues are their home court. BU played well last night and defensively they struggled. That’s why they lost, not because they played in a nicer venue.
I was at the game last night . . . and had it been in the Pit, I would NOT have gone. Sorry, the Pit thing makes no sense to me at all. The Alfond is an actual college atmospshere, the Pit isn’t even a gloried high school gym.
In terms of the game, is it just me, or is this the same pattern of almost all of their games – come out strong, play a solid first half . . . And then just totally collapse in the 2nd!
Thank you. I think a majority of fans would agree with you.
“It was definitely a consensus decision,” Abbott said. “We want to put
our basketball programs in the best
possible position (to succeed).”Barron threw his support behind playing
games in Memorial Gym because of the potential benefits, both in the short and
long term.
Woodward, whom Abbott jokingly called “Mr. Pit,” has advocated
playing games in Memorial Gym because it provides the players with more of a
home-court advantage, since they
practice in the facility. Woodward could not be reached for comment
Tuesday.
UMO just gave away the tie-breaker to BU for the league title and post-season berth most likely by not playing BU in a packed PIT. Nice job everybody!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Trading a few perceived Benjamins for a “W” is not smart business. Hello, McFly!!!!
The Donald would bring someone into the board room over a decision like this, trust me!
108 years and counting everybody…. make that 109 after this screw-up!
College athletics is a business. This was the right thing for business. I would not be surprised if they moved games out of Memorial Gym because of this.
Because of what, dunbar? There were only around 1300 actual bodies present, not 1600 like it said in the boxscore (and we all know this is the case).
So 1300 is what Abbott says the PIT can hold. So that means a SRO packed PIT, which would be a MUCH better atmosphere for the players to take advantage of the home court advantage, of which dumbar has no comprehension obviously.
Just keep on giving away those “W”‘s everybody. ;)
108 years and counting… make that 109 :)
BTW, nice fan support for MBB. 1300 or so actual people for what could be the biggest game of the season. Pathetic.
Maine fans don’t deserve an NCAA appearance.
Shut up. Obviously you have no business sense. There is no distinct advantage between Alfond and Memorial Gymnasium as both are homecourts for the Bears and the team is VERY familiar with both venues. BU won because the played better.
The Alfond Arena is a collegiate venue with all the amenities you need as a Division I program. Memorial Gym is a dinosaur with no appeal whatsoever. Many fans would not have gone had the game be played in the Pit, I wouldn’t have. Memorial Gymnasium is an embarrassment to the University and they should never play there until it is renovated.
not sure why my post response got removed to dunbar, but it’s too bad, because it had some great points. Have to put the kid gloves on with the BDN I guess.
Just asking but ….24 hours later and no UMaine Womens BB BDN report online about the debacle at BU( Was the score really 44-6 in the 1st half??)
It was nice while it lasted.