RICHMOND, Va. -- With Boston U. leading VCU, 43-42, at the half, the Rams opened the second period a 9-0 run and downed the Terriers, 88-75, in the semifinals of the College Basketball Invitational on Wednesday night. The Terriers, who finish their season 21-14, committed 17 turnovers en route to 21 VCU points.
Sophomore Jake O'Brien tallied a game-high 20 points, while junior
John Holland scored 16 points to set a school season-record for points
with 673. Senior Tyler Morris and Carlos Strong had 16 and 14 points, respectvely, in their final collegiate game.
Bradford Burgess led VCU with 20 points and Joey Rodriguez scored 14 of his 19 points in the second half. Larry Sanders contributed 18 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
The loss officially ends a postseason for America East men's basketball teams in which several milestones were set:
- Three men's teams (Boston U., Stony Brook and Vermont) made the postseason for just the second time in league history (2005) and record six combined men's and women's programs had their seasons extend deep into March.
- Stony Brook (NIT) and Boston U. (CBI) each hosted postseason contests. Prior to this season, America East schools had hosted just one postseason game and that came in 1987 (Niagara, NIT).
- With its semifinal berth in the CBI, Boston U. became the first America East school to win multiple games in one postseason.
- The league has also posted wins in consecutive postseasons for just the second time in conference history and the first time since Northeastern accomplished the feat in 1981 and 82.
- Stony Brook hosted Big 10 foe Illinois in an NIT first-round matchup in front of a school-record 4,423 fans.
- Boston U.'s win over Oregon State was the league's fourth over a BCS-conference school this season and seventh since the start of last season.
- Boston U. picked up its 20th win over Oregon State giving the league three 20-win teams (Vermont, Stony Brook, Boston U.) for the first time since 2004-05 and four 19-win programs (Vermont, Stony Brook, Boston U., Maine) for the first time since the 2003-04 season.