Posts Tagged ‘Matt Griffin’

Senior Moment: Reserve Jeff Pelage shines during his moment(s) in the spotlight of the Terriers senior day win.

Sunday, February 26th, 2012

(Boston, MA) – Locked into third place in the standings and the third-seed in the conference tournament, Boston University had nothing to play for on their regular-season finale Saturday afternoon. Nothing, that is, except the seniors.

It was more than enough motivation for the Terrier.

On an emotional Senior Day, the Terriers’ seniors took center stage, leading BU to a 64 to 55 win over the hard-fighting Hartford Hawks.

“It was great to see the seniors go out – you always want to go out and win your last game at home, and they deserved it and I’m proud of them,” said Terriers head coach Joe Jones.

Darryl Partin scored 21 points on 7-16 shooting, while fellow seniors Matt Griffin and Jeff Pelage added eight and seven points apiece, respectively. Forward Travis Robinson chipped in eight points, and Dom Morris seven. Bu out-rebounded Hartford 37 to 18 and nine different Terriers scored in the win.

With a chance to secure fifth place in the conference standings, the young Hawks fought with everything they had, showing tremendous heart, determination, and incredibly scrappy-defense.

“We’re an energetic group, we play extremely hard, they [the team] love each other,” said Hartford head coach John Gallagher of the Hawks effort. “I went in that locker-room and we had seniors who’ve had a tough year, and we had three or four guys crying; that’s exciting to me – that’s exciting: We’ve got a winning locker room.”

Unfortunately, Hartford didn’t fight smart.

Despite continued success attacking the basket, Hartford forced 26 3’s, missing 19. The Hawks dug themselves into a deep hole under an avalanche of off-target bombs in the first half, and, after clawing back into the game attacking the hoop, handed the game back to the Terriers with another ill-advised heave in the games biggest moment.

Prior to tip-of, graduating Boston University seniors Partin, Pelage, Griffin, Pat Hazel and walk-on Chris Kurz were honored. Pelage, arguably the program’s biggest fan favorite, receiving – far and away – the most rousing ovation. (more…)

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Epic Fail: Terriers snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, fall 63-62 to #26 Cleveland State

Saturday, November 26th, 2011

(Newport, RI) – The first 39 minutes and 54.4 seconds of Boston University’s tip off of the Legends Classic were some of the best that Terrier basketball has to offer. The final 5.6 seconds were the worst. The Terriers snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, throwing away what appeared to be a signed, sealed and delivered upset win, to fall 63-62.

“Our guys battled for forty minutes,” said BU head coach Joe Jones. “We just didn’t make the plays late to win the game.” (more…)

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In a Battle of the Ave.’s, Northeastern edges BU

Saturday, November 12th, 2011

The Joe Jones era kicked off in exhilarating fashion for Boston University. Unfortunately, the Terriers came up short, losing an overtime thriller 82-74 to crosstown rival Northeastern.

“We can really use this game to get better,” said Jones following his first game as head coach of the Terriers. “I thought our guys showed great promise. They battled back and showed the heart of a champion getting this thing into overtime. And then we had a couple chances here, and if things go our way we’re sitting here smiling.”

Darryl Partin scored 25 points, D.J. Irving 17 and Matt Griffin 11, including a huge 3 to give the Terriers a lead towards the end of regulation and capping a frantic second-half comeback. (more…)

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Let’s Dance! John Holland’s 27 points power the Terriers to a 56-54 win over Stony Brook and a trip to the NCAA’s

Monday, March 14th, 2011

(Photograph’s courtesy of Steve McLaughlin)

Terrier Nation was elated. Mankind (the wrestler) was devastated.

The best player in the league stepped up in the conference’s biggest game. John Holland powered Boston University to a thrilling 56-54 win over Stony Brook in the final seconds of the America East championship game, and the Terriers punched their ticket to the Big Dance for the first time since 2002.

Boston University took its only lead of the day over Stony Brook with 2.4 seconds left, as Holland calmly sunk two free throws and survived a halfcourt heave to win the America East title. It was an interesting (nail-biting, thrilling, heartbreaking, controversial) end to a memorable title game played on national TV in the league’s best venue in front of a raucous crowd and terrific atmosphere. (more…)

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One by one, BU free throws add up to 55-49 semifinal victory over Hartford

Tuesday, March 8th, 2011

Boston University redshirt junior forward Pat Hazel is a lot of things. A muscular 6-foot-6, the Marquette transfer holds his

BU's Pat Hazel throws down the second of his two dunks (Photo courtesy of Shane Bufano)

ground in the low post, and has blocked a league-leading 62 shots from both that position and as a help defender. On offense, Hazel generates plenty of second-shot opportunities – his OR% of 11.1 is tied for third-best among all AE qualifiers, trailing only Stony Brook’s Dallis Joyner and Albany’s Blake Metcalf – and despite often finding himself in a crowd of defenders around the hoop, Hazel shot a tidy 52.8% from the floor. The All-Defensive Team nominee’s ability to function effectively as a clean-up guy around the hoop made him a valuable contributor at both ends of the floor for the Terriers this season.

 

But after 32 games this season, it was safe to say that Hazel was not either of two things: a dunker or a free throw shooter. Heading into Sunday’s semifinal against the host, the No. 6 Hartford Hawks, a Hazel dunk prompted a hard pinch to make sure the observer wasn’t dreaming. And the charity stripe was anything but charitable to Hazel. Pat connected at a wholly uninspiring 44.0% clip. In fact, Hazel had never attempted more than one free throw in a game for BU without missing at least once. Hoping for 2-of-2? Good luck with that.

So years from now, when robots parse the box score from the Terriers’ closely contested 55-49 semifinal victory at Hartford for the umpteenth time, they won’t realize that what Pat Hazel did on Sunday took a running leap past “improbable,” landing safely in the zone of “unthinkable.” (more…)

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Survive and advance: BU grinds its way to a 69-60 victory over UNH, advances to semis

Sunday, March 6th, 2011

Any team can win playing their game. Championship teams find ways to win when things aren’t going their way. On Saturday in the America East Quarterfinals, the Boston University Terriers won by playing New Hampshire’s game: ugly.

“I’m proud of these guys. They definitely grinded it out down the stretch,” said BU head coach Pat Chambers.

With newly crowned America East Player of the Year John Holland returning to the court after an ankle injury kept him out of the regular-season finale, normally reliable scorer Darryl Partin having an uncharacteristic off night, and a hard-fighting New Hampshire squad refusing to go away, the Terriers buckled down and gutted out a 69-60 win to advance to the conference semifinals. (more…)

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Holland cracks 2K as BU offense catches fire and knocks off Maine, 88-78

Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011

Good things happen for Boston University (11-13, 6-4 AE) when John Holland asserts himself and attacks the basket. On Tuesday night, the Terrier senior scored 24 points – including the 2,000th point of his career – and ripped down a game-high 12 rebounds, leading the Terriers to an 88-78 win over first-place Maine (14-8, 8-2 AE). The win puts BU two games ahead of fourth-place Hartford in the win column, while the Black Bears’ loss drops them back into a tie with Vermont.

Holland entered the game as the leading scorer in the America East, but the story of his season has been his ever-increasing tendency to play passively and sit on the perimeter, as well as disappear in big games. At 6’5” with high-major athleticism, he has always been capable to taking games over by attacking the basket, but has fallen into a groove of lethargic play and has struggled to bring energy to the court every night – once a staple of his.

But on Tuesday night, Holland was brilliant, the star of the night. Holland’s 24 points made the senior just the second player in school history to crack the 2,000 point plateau, joining Tunji Awojobi. A tornado of energy, Holland attacked the basket for several emphatic dunks and tough lay-ups, while also helping the Terriers stay close in the rebounding battle with the much larger Black Bears. He even added two authoritative rejections on the defensive end. Holland’s 12 rebounds were not only the most he has pulled down during his senior campaign, but also the first time he has cracked double-digits on the glass in a game this year. (more…)

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Terriers top Wildcats in ugly but effective performance

Thursday, January 6th, 2011

No one wanted to admit it afterwards, but Tuesday night’s contest was very close to a “must-win” game for both Boston University (6-10, 1-1 AE) and the University of New Hampshire (6-8, 0-2 AE). In the end, it was the Terriers, behind 20 points from John Holland and a monster 8 point, 10 rebound, 6 block by Pat Hazel, who came out 61-54 winners in a hard-fought, frequently messy game where neither team wanted to give an inch. (more…)

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Week in Review: Nov 15-21

Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010

The first full week of America East hoops has come to an end. So what did we learn? That the league is still far more of question marks than answers. Can New Hampshire and Stony Brook overcome key injuries on top of inexperience? Is Binghamton going to be the train wreck on the court this season that was predicted last season? Will UMBC be less dreadful than last year? Will this be the year that Albany turns things around? Can Maine make the move from surprising upstart to true contender? Is Hartford going to turn it around? We still don’t know – only time will tell. However, what we do know is that Boston University and Vermont look legit, and Maine could join them in the “contender” bracket. Without further ado, here’s a look back at the previous week in America East hoops.

(more…)

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The smallest dog, with the largest fight

Saturday, November 20th, 2010

Picture yourself wandering through the empty hallways of the Walter Brown athletic complex on one of Boston’s hot, sticky, sweltering summer nights. Through the stale, molasses thick air that hung in the dark corridors of the old building, you’d hear the sound of leather smacking against hardwood and the squeak of sneakers against floorboard.

The sounds of Matt Griffin.

Griffin was there, practicing in the empty and dimly-lit gym in a darkened building, breathing the stale, humid, heavy air. He set the tone for the Boston University Terriers. He laid the foundation for Boston University head coach Patrick Chambers to build his program.

“Nobody works harder than Matt Griffin,” is a quote that Chambers has uttered more times than he can count, and if you spend any time around the Terriers, you quickly learn it first-hand. (more…)

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