BU Switched to a Zone, Lost a Starter, Blew the Lead, and Still Beat Northeastern 93-85

The Commonwealth Ave.-Huntington Ave. rivalry opener at Case Gym had a little of everything Monday. Boston University beat Northeastern 93-85 in front of 1,330, according to The Daily Free Press and The Huntington News.

The zone

Midway through the first half BU sophomore guard Donte Tisinger Jr. went down holding his left leg and didn't return. Head coach Joe Jones went to a 2-3 zone, and Northeastern shot 2 of 14 from three in the first half. BU led 46-36 at the break. "If we didn't use it, I think they would've probably shot close to 60%, to be honest with you," Jones told the Free Press.

The comeback that wasn't

Northeastern got physical after halftime and got to the line nine times before BU shot a free throw, The Huntington News reported. A 12-2 run gave the Huskies a 75-73 lead with about six minutes left. Then graduate guard Rashad King, Northeastern's top scorer, picked up his fourth foul with 4:15 to go and sat. BU closed on a 17-8 run.

The names

Junior Azmar Abdullah slid to point guard and led BU with 21 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Senior Kyrone Alexander had 19 and seven rebounds, exactly a year after a knee injury in last season's opener against Northeastern ended his year. "I wanted to prove myself right," he said. Freshman forward EJ Vernon scored 10 of his 11 in the second half. "He was a man in there," Jones said.

For Northeastern, coach Bill Coen said, "I thought we really lost the game on the backboard." Freshman Dorian Grosber and King gave the Huskies a lift early.

Dez's take

Coen's right. You can't give up second-chance points to a freshman in a one-possession game. And BU winning with Tisinger out is a good sign for the Terriers.

Additional reporting

A new cast of characters stepped onto Case Gym’s floor for the first time Monday night to write its own chapter in Boston University basketball lore. The Terriers’ (1-0) season-opening 93-85 win over Northeastern University had a similar story to last season: one of a team overcoming injuries and a freshman stepping into the spotlight.

Midway through the first half, sophomore guard Donte Tisinger Jr. drove to the rim and went down in pain, holding his left leg before walking off unaided to BU’s bench. He wouldn’t return for the rest of the game, an unfortunately familiar sight for a Terriers team that saw several players sidelined for large portions of last season.

But Tisinger’s injury, a moment that could have halted the Terriers’ momentum, instead ignited a spark. After a cagey opening ten minutes, the Terriers’ struggles to defend the Huskies’ (0-1) drives to the rim led BU head coach Joe Jones to make a switch to a 2-3 zone.

But in the second half, Northeastern ramped up the physicality on both sides of the ball and went on a 12-2 run of its own to take a 75-73 lead with six and a half minutes to go. Threatening to spoil the Terriers’ season opener, the Northeastern portion of the 1,330 spectators in Case Gym grew louder as the Terriers faithful became restless.

The question became clear: Who would rise to the occasion with the Terriers down a key rotation player? The answer came in the form of two familiar faces and one new one as the Terriers responded to the Huskies’ run with a 17-8 run of their own in the game’s final six minutes to secure their first victory of the season.

The effort was spearheaded by the Terriers’ starting backcourt of junior guard Azmar Abdullah and senior guard Kyrone Alexander. With Tisinger out of the game, Abdullah became the Terriers’ de facto point guard, finishing with a team-leading 21 points to go with 7 rebounds and 3 assists, combining his expanded offense with the same hustle and defensive intensity that’s made him integral to BU’s success.

But perhaps the biggest contributor to BU’s second-half surge was freshman forward EJ Vernon. As the Terriers re-established control in the second half by crashing the offensive glass, Vernon — who scored 10 of his 11 points in the second half — was at the center of it.

The freshman scored back-to-back buckets off offensive rebounds before finding sophomore forward Sam Hughes on the break for a layup, forcing a Northeastern timeout — and earning some chest bumps from teammates as he walked to the bench. “Vernon was the big difference in the second half,” Jones said. “His ability to score in the paint and on offensive rebounds, he was a man in there.”

The Terriers’ win was far from perfect — there were defensive mistakes that need to be ironed out and turnovers to correct. Regardless, the first game of the Terriers’ season is marked as a W. BU will look to open its season with two consecutive wins as they travel to play Brown on Friday.

What we still don't know

BU had not given an update on Tisinger's leg. BU plays at Brown on Friday; Northeastern visits Virginia on Nov. 6.