Senior Night slip-up

None of what Boston University men's basketball players Omari Peterkin and Corey Lowe or even coach Dennis Wolff said at the press conference was more powerful than how they looked.

They looked flat-out sad. Depressed, bummed out, disappointed.

Call it what you will, but very few teams in the country have lost as many games in as hard-to-swallow a fashion as this year's Terriers. Ten of BU's 16 loses have been by six points or less, four have come in overtime and three have been by a mere two points. The latest addition to the list was Thursday night's 57-55 heartbreaker to first place University of Vermont (22-6, 14-1 America East) at Case Gymnasium.

It wasn't necessarily the fact that BU's last-ditch effort -- an inbounds pass off the hands of freshman Scott Brittain (8 points, 8 rebounds) which was knocked down by UVM senior Chris Holm before reaching its intended target, Tyler Morris -- that broke the team's back, but rather multiple missed opportunities for easy points and, at times, the inability to run an efficient offense.

"I think at the end Scott made a good pass and Holm made a good play deflecting the ball," Wolff said. "It's one of those things where, in a possession game, which this has been historically when we've played them, you have to be able to execute. And we just had a few breakdowns at critical times."

Breakdowns that didn't necessarily just happen at the end of the game.

"I think from our perspective we wished we had just finished a few more of those plays around the basket," Wolff said. "But I thought we competed like crazy. I think it's a -- as it's been all year -- fine line for us between winning and losing here against a team that's won the league in the regular season."

Vermont, which now has more regular-season wins than it did when Taylor Coppenrath and company shocked fourth-seeded Syracuse University in the 2005 NCAA Tournament, also boasts the nation's best rebounding margin (9.9), the nation's second-leading rebounder (Holm, 10.2), a 14-3 road record and an RPI of 84. (All stats as of Feb. 22).

Coupled with the fact that the Terriers only shot 30.9 percent from the field shows you what kind of effort BU gave in front of a packed house at The Roof (1,463).

Neither team led by more than five points in a game that featured 12 lead changes and 11 ties. Lowe bested all scorers with 22 points, while Morris ended a 90:45 scoreless drought with a second-half ten footer and finished the game with 10 points.

In the contest's final 1:15, the Catamounts, up by three, elected to foul BU every possession so the Terriers couldn't hit a 3 to tie it. Consequently, the Terriers were forced to foul Vermont to get the ball back, resulting in a pattern that saw UVM take a three-point lead on three separate occasions. Lowe did his part, sinking 6-of-6 free throws in the final minute, but senior Mike Trimboli (8 points) countered, hitting 5-of-6 with under 15 seconds left to force the Terriers into the last-second predicament.

"Playing BU, it's always going to be a dogfight," Holm said. "They play real physical and always play real tough inside."

"I think they're a very good defensive team, I got a lot of respect for coach Wolff," said UVM coach Mike Lonergan. "I've known him for a long time and I respect him because he stresses defense and rebounding the ball, which is what we try to do. I know his teams are usually number one in the league in defensive field goal percentage."

Lonergan's right. BU fronts a league-best 59.8 scoring defense in all games this season. The Terriers also became one of three teams all year to out-rebound Vermont (36-30). That swing on the boards from the last time the Terriers faced the Catamounts -- and got out-rebounded, 41-23 -- can be directly attributed to the having Brittain and Peterkin (6 points, 7 rebounds), who didn't play in Burlington, on the floor.

"I thought those were two premier defensive teams in the league," Lonergan said. "And they out-rebounded us, too, which has only happened one or two times this year. We were trying to foul so they couldn't tie the game up just because Morris and those guys are lethal from 3-point range."

UVM never gave Morris or Lowe or freshman Carlos Strong (5 points) the chance to knock down the game-winning 3, and the Terriers were left wondering, "What if?"

"I don't think we sit there, me or the guys or these kids and think 'Oh my god, we've got a close game we're not going to win,'" Wolff said. "I'm thinking, 'Let's keep making plays to win.'

"This is a sport where sometimes the bounces don't go your way," he continued. "I don't mean to make it that simple, either."

An inch here or there, and BU could have easily had eight or more points from failed layup attempts. That said, Vermont was 16-of-26 from the charity stripe -- not something they're accustomed to.

If a fluidity, which can only be gained via experiences such as difficult defeats, manages to envelope the Terriers before they enter the America East tournament next weekend as the No. 3 seed -- which they locked-up tonight due to Hartford and Maine losses -- BU could continue to open eyes.

"These kids come ready to play. In some ways, people say you know this is a disappointing season, but not for us," Wolff said. "We're going to play again on Sunday, and when this tournament starts next week, we're going to think we have as good a chance as anyone else."

"They're a team that can be very dangerous like we were in the tournament last year," Lonergan said. "We've got a lot of respect for them."