Familiar numbers led to familiar results during the 13th annual Big Purple Growl Saturday night at SEFCU Arena.
Boston University forced 21 turnovers and connected on nine three-pointers, while Carlos Strong, who netted six three-pointers the first time the teams played in Boston, fired in 24 points on 9-for-11 shooting en route to a 68-53 victory over the Great Danes before a crowd of 4,410.
John Holland scored 18 points, and Jake O’Brien chipped in with 10 points for the Terriers, who improved to 8-4 in the America East Conference and 13-11 overall.
UAlbany struggled from the floor, shooting just 34 percent. The Danes were also mediocre from the line, sinking 10 of 17 attempts.
Freshman guard Mike Black scored 18 points and recorded four assists for the Great Danes (1-10, 6-20), who dropped their seventh straight game.
Albany withstood several mini BU runs in the first half, and stayed in contention on the strength of Black’s shooting. The Danes got within three, 28-25, on a Jake Lindfors offensive rebound, but the Terriers closed the half on a 6-1 run to take a 34-26 lead into intermission.
BU scored the first 11 points of the second half to take control, building a 45-26 cushion. The Danes never recovered.
“We’re pretty good at giving up an early second-half run,” said UAlbany head coach Will Brown. “We can’t simulate that in practice, but I’m going to have to look into who is starting the second half, because this has happened to us several times.
“We committed 21 turnovers, and they scored 21 points off turnovers. Game over,” Brown said. “We held them to the low 30s in shooting percentage, but when you’re struggling to shoot the ball, we can’t turn the ball over. If we had maybe 12 turnovers and got nine more shots, even if we make three of them, we’re a lot closer. Definitely, the points they scored off turnovers were the difference in the game.”
“Our turnovers hurt us during that 11-0 run,” said Black. “And they scored a lot of their points off those turnovers.”
Boston University head coach Pat Chambers said that Strong always seems to play well against the Great Danes.
“There is no doubt he plays well against Albany,” Chambers said. “They were playing a 3-2 zone defense against us to stop the three-pointers, but somehow, Carlos got lost and was open for the three-pointers.
“We’re just looking for consistency, and I know Will Brown is looking for the same thing from Albany. We played hard for most of the game tonight. Defensively, we were fortunate. We stepped up and made the right moves on defense tonight. We did a good job.”
Junior guard Tim Ambrose, the team’s leading scorer, was hurt in a collision with Will Harris in the second half and didn’t return. He said he has a lower-back injury.
Fran Urli grabbed a game-high nine rebounds for the Danes, and Scotty McRae blocked four shots. Lindfors scored seven points and added two blocked shots.
Albany hosts New Hampshire Tuesday night.
BOSTON UNIVERSITY (68)
O’Brien 3-9 2-2 10, Holland 7-17 3-3 18, Pelage 1-3 1-2 3, Strong 9-11 1-1 24, Morris 1-7 2-2 5, Schulze 0-0 0-0 0, Lowe 3-13 2-4 8, Siritis 0-1 0-0 0, Aboola 0-0 0-0 0, Sullivan 0-3 0-0 0, Smith 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 24-64 11-14 68.
ALBANY (53)
Urli 0-4 2-4 2, Metcalf 1-3 0-0 2, Aronhalt 0-2 0-0 0, Black 6-11 3-3 18, Allen 2-5 0-0 6, Harris 1-4 2-4 4, Tartt 1-3 0-2 2, McRae 1-5 3-4 5, Ambrose 3-7 0-0 7, Lindfors 3-9 0-0 7, Gifford 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 18-53 1-17 53.
Halftime: BU 34-26. Three-point goals: BU 9-29 (O’Brien 2-4, Holland 1-5, Strong 5-7, Morris 1-4, Lowe 0-7, Sirutis 0-1, Sullivan 0-1); Albany 7-22 (Urli 0-1, Aronhalt 0-2, Black 3-4, Allen 2-5, Harris 0-2, McRae 0-1, Ambrose 1-2, Lindfors 1-5). Rebounds: BU 36 (Lowe 8), Albany 45 (Urli 9). Assists: BU 13 (Morris 5), Albany 10 (Black 4). Personal fouls: BU 18, Albany 14. Technical fouls: None. Officials: Gary Pucino, Dan Boomhour, Harkeem Dixon. Attendance: 4,410.
VERMONT 72, ALBANY 63
The UAlbany women built a 10-point lead early in the second half, but the Catamounts rallied to spoil their winter homecoming.
Courtnay Pilypaitis scored 24 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for Vermont, which improved to 9-2 and 19-5. Tonya Young added 17 points.
Albany (0-9, 7-15) was led by Felicia Johnson (20 points), Charity Iromuanya (16 points) and Julie Forster (15 points, 12 rebounds).
“The press Vermont employed late in the game hurt our momentum,” said Johnson, whose team committed just six turnovers in the first half, but ended with 14.
The Danes also lost momentum when Ebone Henry was ejected from the game for committing a flagrant foul. Vermont led, 59-55, at the time but quickly expanded its lead at the free-throw line.
VERMONT (72)
Iwobi 4-9 2-3 10, Seto 1-4 1-2 4, Young 8-10 1-2 17, Pilypatis 7-14 5-6 24, Kotsopoulos 3-13 0-0 8, Lalonde 0-0 0-0 0, Buschmann 1-2 0-0 2, Sheftic 2-5 3-4 7 .Totals: 26-57 12-17 72.
ALBANY (63)
Forster 5-14 5-6 15, Williams 0-2 0-0 0, Henry 2-9 2-4 7, Johnson 6-11 6-7 20, Iromuanya 6-13 2-3 16, Basavand 0-4 0-0 0, Clements 1-1 2-2 4, Cohan 0-0 0-0 0, Makopondo 0-3 1-2 1. Totals: 20-57 18-24 63.
Halftime: Albany 30-29. Three-point goals: Vermont 8-18 (Seo 1-2, Young 0-1, Pilypatitis 5-9, Kotsopoulos 2-6); Albany 5-15 (Henry 1-3, Johnson 2-4, Iromuanya 2-4, Basavand 0-4). Rebounds: Vermont 41 (Pilypaitis 12), Albany 31 (Forster 12). Assists: Vermont 14 (Pilypaitis 6), Albany 7 (Henry 2, Johnson 2). Personal fouls: Vermont 15, Albany 14. Flagrant foul Henry. Officials: Denise Brooks, Rachelle Jones, Diana DePaul.
Categories: College Sports
