“We had opportunities to go up, we missed them, and they made some tough plays,” said head coach Dr. Brett Reed. “There was a stretch of time where we were particularly hurt with rebounding, but our guys responded and continued to fight. It was just a difference of sometimes making a play versus not making a play, but rebounding was also a major factor in this game.”
With tonight’s win, Boston U. (15-15, 9-8 PL) clinches a top six seed and first round bye in the Patriot League tournament and secures a season sweep over Lehigh (10-18, 5-12 PL). The Mountain Hawks now sit in ninth place in the Patriot League standings and are locked into a first round game that will be played on Tuesday, March 4.
The Mountain Hawks went through a scoring drought to begin the game, going 0-5 from the field through the first six minutes of action. BU jumped ahead to an 8-0 lead in that time frame, but a personal 6-0 run from Whitney-Sidney brought Lehigh back into the game. Whitney-Sidney went on to score 19 points for the Mountain Hawks in the first half, carrying his team’s offensive load. The game remained within a few possessions for Lehigh before an 8-2 run put the Terriers up ten with under two minutes to play. BU owned a 36-28 halftime advantage after shooting 50.0% from the field in the opening 20 minutes.
Whitney-Sidney continued to produce in the second half, but the Terriers had an answer to take their largest lead of the night of 11 with 15:59 to go. Whitlock then provided an offensive spark to compliment Whitney-Sidney, as the sophomore put up 20 points in the second half alone. The one-two punch of Whitney-Sidney and Whitlock propelled Lehigh back into the game, eventually trailing 66-64 with only four minutes left to play. BU senior Miles Brewster hit a clutch step-back three as the shot clock expired with 3:25 on the clock, extending his team’s lead to five. The Mountain Hawks then went cold the rest of the way, shooting 0-3 from the field to the Terriers’ 3-4 from the floor. A Kyrone Alexander breakaway dunk with 13 seconds remaining put a bow on BU’s road victory.
Lehigh shot 47.6% (20-42) from the field and 33.3% (6-18) from three compared to BU’s 44.4% (24-54) and 26.7% (4-15). Both teams took an exorbitant number of free throws, with Lehigh shooting 78.6% (22-28) to BU’s 79.4% (27-34). The Terriers owned a massive advantage on the glass, outrebounding the Mountain Hawks 39-20 and 14-0 on the offensive glass.
Whitney-Sidney shined for Lehigh, scoring a career-high 32 points on 8-11 shooting and 14-17 from the free throw line. The senior also added three rebounds, three assists and two made triples.
Whitlock also posted a career-high, scoring 24 points on 7-11 shooting, 7-8 from the line and 3-5 from distance. The sophomore grabbed two rebounds, dished out two assists and nabbed two steals.
“[Tyler and Nasir] carried us a great deal,” said Reed. “In the first half, we really needed Tyler to step up and produce some points for us because we weren’t necessarily generating as much as we were effectively in the second half. Both Tyler and Nasir were the recipients of a much more positive offensive flow in the second half.”
Alexander led the way for the Terriers with a team-high 21 points while grabbing 10 rebounds to record a double-double. He was joined in double-figures by Brewster (14p), Malcolm Chimezie (13p) and Ben Defty (11p).
The Mountain Hawks will conclude the regular season on the road against the Army West Point Black Knights on Saturday, March 1 at 1 p.m.
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