D.J. Irving managed to keep the Terriers close in the first half while his teammates struggled, the second half proved to be a whole another story. Boston University (6-11, 2-1) came out firing in the second half, with everyone contributing, to hand Maine (8-6, 2-1) their first America East loss of the season and give the Terriers just their second true road win of the season in a 77-68 victory.
Irving led the way in the win, recording his first career double-double (23 points, 11 assists) and proving nearly unstoppable. He hit 8-of-14 of his shots from the field, went to the line 10 times and only turned the ball over two times, for a Terriers team that had lost their past two games in Orono, while struggling mightily. Irving's eleven assists were tied for his career-high and came after he recorded eight dishes and no turnovers in Sunday's win over Binghamton.
Backcourt mate Darryl Partin survived a rough first half, to finish with a game-high 27 points. After a first half in which he hit just 1-of-10 shots and scored just three points, Partin hit 9-of-12 of his attempts in the second half. In the process, Partin reached the 1,000 point mark for his career behind a perfect 6-of-6 from behind the arc in the second half, as he scored 24 points in the first 10:30 of the second stanza to give the Terriers a 65-48 lead.
Matt Griffin added 10 points and three assists off the bench for Boston University. Malik Thomas was a big bench contributor as well, as he pulled down a team-high nine rebounds for the Terriers, who out-rebounded Maine 36-30.
The Black Bears were led by Gerald McLemore who finished with 17 points, three below his season average. Sophomore forward Alasdair Fraser added 14 points and eight rebounds and freshmen forward Justin Edwards had a double-double, with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Despite shooting 51.9 percent (28-54) for the game, Maine failed to overcome the Terriers knocking down 12 3-pointers, on just 16 attempts (75 percent). After holding Boston University to 27 points in the first stanza, the Terriers scored 50 in the second half, behind 57 percent shooting, including 9-of-11 (81 percent) on 3-pointers.
The first half looked familiar between the two teams, as the Terriers struggled to shoot the ball (32 percent) and turned the ball over eight times. Maine slowly built a nine-point lead behind their scoring inside and the Terriers struggles to slow down McLemore, who had a game-high 14 points at halftime.
It took an Irving three-pointer at the buzzer to cut the deficit to 33-27 at the break and it looked like the Terriers were in for another rough night at the Alfond Arena. In their past two games at Maine, Boston University had averaged 53 points per game, all that would change with a huge second half.
After a Fraser basket gave Maine an eight-point lead to begin the half, Boston University went on an 18-6 run to grab their first lead since the score was 3-2. The Terriers hit 7-of-8 shots over the four minute span, including a perfect 4-of-4 on 3-point attempts, to grab a 45-41 lead.
After a minute and a half of back-and-forth play, the Terriers went on another big run. Starting at the 13:44 mark of the second half, Boston University went on a 15-0 run to take their largest lead of the game, 65-48. All the baskets were made by Partin or Irving, as Dom Morris hit two free throws to start the spurt. Over the next four minutes, Partin connected on three more 3-pointers and Irving and Partin connected on 2-point shots.
The Black Bears slowly cut into the deficit over the final 9:25, but were only able to get as close as six with 1:12 to go. Three Terrier free throws were enough to ice the game and seal the final score, as Boston University earned a huge road win against one of the elite teams in the America East Conference.
Boston University will be back in action Saturday at Noon when they take on Stony Brook University, in a rematch of last season's America East Championship Game.