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BOSTON – Nothing ever comes easily against Boston University and its tenacious man-to-man defense.
The University of Maine’s ability Sunday to get to the foul line often, and its own aggressive defense, helped the Black Bears overcome the Terriers.
Ollie Ahvenniemi and Chris Bruff each went 4-for-6 from the foul line in the last 8:02 and provided determined post play to lift UMaine to a 53-51 American East men’s basketball victory at Agganis Arena.
Boston University’s Corey Hassan threw in a half-court shot just after the final horn as coach Ted Wooward’s Bears escaped with the program’s first road win over BU since 1999.
“They play such great defense. They just give you nothing,” said Woodward, whose team improved to 9-11 overall, 4-5 in league play with its fourth win in five games. “That’s why it’s so tough to come down here and win or, frankly, beat them anywhere.”
UMaine went 16-for-21 (76 percent) from the foul line and made its first 14 before tensing up down the stretch and going 3-for-8 in the last 36 seconds.
It was a resilient effort by UMaine, which was outscored 11-2 over the last 51/2 minutes of the first half and trailed 28-20 at halftime after failing to make a field goal for the final 6:44 of the period.
“We didn’t come out as hard in the first half as we wanted to, but we really picked it up in the second,” said Ahvienniemi, a junior center who provided eight points, 12 rebounds and six blocked shots. “We got the win, so we’re glad about that.”
Ahvenniemi did a solid defensive job on BU center Kevin Gardiner (16 points, 10 rebounds) and remained aggressive despite playing the final 51/2 minutes with four fouls. He had two clutch defensive rebounds and a block in the last minute to help the Bears hold on.
“Ollie had a lot of big plays,” Woodward said. “He went up when we needed big rebounds in traffic and was able to get a couple of big ones.”
Despite giving up at least four inches at the defensive end, Bruff was a force. He scored eight of his 12 points in the second half and helped UMaine survive serious foul trouble by Phillippe Tchekane Bofia (6 points, 6 rebounds, 12 minutes).
“I just had to come in and step up where Phillippe left off,” Bruff said. “It’s been a constant battle for me being a little undersized with bigger guys down low, but I just have to dig deep and play hard and aggressive.”
Rashard Turner finished with 12 points while Ernest Turner added seven points and six rebounds for Maine.
Shaun Wynn (seven rebounds) and Tony Gaffney (five steals) contributed 11 points each for BU, which shot only 33 percent from the floor.
“At the end of the day, when you struggle shooting the way we struggled, it’s going to make for a long day,” said BU coach Dennis Wolff. “Our margin for error is not that great.”
UMaine took the lead for good (46-44) with 3:44 to play when Rashard Turner buried a 3-pointer off a feed from the baseline by Jon Sheets. Bruff and Ahvenniemi then sandwiched two free throws each around a jump hook from BU’s Gardiner.
Gardiner got the Terriers within 50-48 when he dunked the rebound of a Bryan Geffen miss with 1:02 left, but Ahvenniemi, Sheets and Ahvenniemi again made one foul shot apiece on consecutive possessions to put UMaine up 53-48.
Wynn hit a 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds remaining to get BU within two, then Bruff was fouled. He missed both, giving BU it’s final chance.
Hassan took a pass in the backcourt near the midcourt stripe but found his path blocked by Ernest Turner and couldn’t get the shot off in time. Officials reviewed the play on the video monitor, which clearly showed the shot came too late.
“It would have been nice at least to make those free throws and not have to worry about that situation,” Woodward said.
Trailing 28-20 at the break, the Bears got back into the game with an 8-0 run during the first seven minutes of the second half. BU missed its first seven shots of the half.
Sheets converted a driving layup and hit a 16-footer 1:04 apart and Rashard Turner made a short jumper to make it 28-28 with 13:59 to play.
Hassan ended BU’s scoring drought seven-plus minutes (going back to the first half) at the 13:47 mark, but the Bears had regained their confidence.
BLACK BEARS 53, TERRIERS 51
Maine (9-11) Boston U. (8-12)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
Ahvnniemi 2 7 4 6 8 Hassan 1 8 2
TchkneBfa 2 3 2 2 6 Gardner 8 14 16
R. Turner 4 9 2 2 12 Coblyn 2 7 5
E. Turner 2 8 3 3 7 Macon 0 6 0
Sheets 2 7 1 2 5 Wynn 4 10 11
Bruff 4 9 4 6 12 Geffen 2 9 4
Hight 0 0 0 0 0 Peterkin 0 2
Petkus 1 2 0 0 3 Gaffney 4 8 11
Scales 0 0 0 0 0 Johnson 0 0 0
Cavanaugh 0 1 0 1 0
Totals 17 46 16 21 53 21 64 14 51
Maine 20 53
Boston Univ. 28 51
3-pt. goals – Maine (3-14): R. Turner 2-4, E. Turner 0-2, Sheets 0-5, Petkus 1-2, Cavanaugh 0-1; Boston U. (3-16): Hassan 0-4, Macon 0-5, Wynn 3-5, Geffen 0-2
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