Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
Boston University
Army Completes Weekend Sweep of Boston U
January 17, 2021 | Men's Basketball
BOSTON – The Black Knights finished the weekend sweep against Boston University with a 76-65 victory on Sunday afternoon in Patriot league action.
After a slow start from both teams on the offensive end, Army went on a 20-7 run late in the first half to turn a seven-point deficit into a seven-point lead going into the half. The Black Knights never relinquished the lead as they got up by as many as 12 in the second half and survived a scoreless stretch of four-plus minutes late in the final half.
"I am really excited for our team right now," Head Coach Jimmy Allen said. "Boston U is a team that has four starters out there off last year's championship team and they came out strong, but we hung in there and made enough plays to get the job done. We weathered the storm until we got the lead and then we hung on for the win."
Senior Lonnie Grayson led a group of four players in double figures with 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting, while Josh Caldwell poured in 17 points. Tucker Blackwell was on fire from deep and was 4-of-5 from distance and finished with 12 points and Jalen Rucker added 11 points.
Army shot 53.7 percent from the field and was 11-of-28 (39.3 percent) from three.
The Black Knights are back on the court next weekend for a pair of huge matchups against service-academy rival Navy in Annapolis on Saturday and Sunday.
Allen added, "We're going to enjoy this one and look forward to what's to come next week when we head down there to take on the Midshipmen."
HOW IT HAPPENED:
FIRST HALF
· Slow start for both teams as Boston U. had the early 6-4 lead in the first five minutes of the game.
· Army caught fire out of the 12-minute media timeout with Grayson hitting a pair of treys and Caldwell knocking one down from deep to get Army within one at 14-13.
· Boston U. answered with a quick 6-0 run to get the lead up to seven to make it a 20-14 game with 9:10 left in the half.
· Blackwell caught fire off the bench and hit back-to-back 3-pointers to get Army within one at 20-19 with 7:33 left.
· Army took their first lead of the game thanks to a 14-5 run with 3-pointers from Aaron Duhart and Blackwell and the Black Knights were on top 27-25 with five minutes left in the half.
· The Black Knights increased their lead to nine with 1:15 left in the half thanks to another 3-pointer from Rucker as he recorded the final five points for Army before heading to the locker room with a 38-31 lead.
· Caldwell led the way with nine points, while Grayson tallied eight points in the opening half and Rucker came off the bench with seven in the first 20 minutes.
SECOND HALF
· Army continued its hot shooting into the second half with Grayson and Blackwell sinking 3-pointers and the Black Knights led by 13 in the opening moments.
· The Terriers cut the lead down to seven with 16:04 left, but Army answered with a 3-pointer from Blackwell and a layup from Grayson and the Black Knights regained control at 53-49 with 13:54 remaining on the clock.
· Both teams hit a cold spell for over three minutes and Army still led 57-50 and then Boston U. got to within four at 59-55, but after a Nick Finke layup, Caldwell stepped into a corner three and drained it to put Army up 64-55 with 3:38 left.
· The Terriers got the Army advantage down to seven at 68-61, but Finke answered with a nice layup to stop the final push by Boston U. and the Black Knights hit their free throws in the final minute to move to 8-3 on the season and 4-2 in league play with a 76-65 win.
UP NEXT: Army heads to Navy for a service-academy matchups on Saturday and Sunday.
