the Informer

[caption id="attachment_1408" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="BU jumped out to a 28-point halftime lead against the Hawks Saturday, hitting a tournament-record nine first-half 3-pointers. (Adam Manison)"][/caption] No. 4 seed Boston University hit an America East tournament record nine 3-pointers in the first half and Jake O’Brien added a career-high 28 points to lead the Terriers past No. 5 seed Hartford 87-46 on Saturday afternoon at Chase Family Arena. The quarterfinal loss ends the Hartford men’s basketball team’s season while BU will move on to play No. 1 seed Stony Brook in semifinal action on Sunday. Although the Hawks were confident entering the game, especially since they nearly defeated the Terriers in February, it was simply not meant to be as BU jumped out to a 28-point halftime lead on 51-percent shooting. “It’s pretty clear we ran into a great basketball team today,” Hawks’ head coach Dan Leibovitz said following the rout. “They were able to penetrate and find the open man over and over again.” America East All-Conference Second-Team selection Joe Zeglinski led Hartford with 11 points on the afternoon, but found it difficult to find open looks, shooting 4-13 from the floor. “It’s no secret, when you play Hartford the number one guy is Joe,” Leibovitz added. “Joe gets everyone’s best defender and game plan.” Boston University was picked first in the America East preseason poll but seem to be hitting their stride at the perfect time. After an even opening few minutes, O’Brien and Corey Lowe began to pour it on, hitting contested jumpers from seemingly every possibly spot on the floor. Both had a team-high 14 first-half points. The Terriers used two massive first-half scoring runs to burst open the nearly insurmountable halftime lead. After a long Zeglinski jumper pulled the Hawks within one at 9-8, BU went on a 11-0 spurt over two minutes, including three 3-pointers, two from the senior Lowe. “They are really talented and we know that if they get started that quickly and they were hitting shots early, it was going to be a long day for us,” said Zeglinski, a redshirt junior with one remaining year of eligibility. The Terriers were far from done in the opening half. As Hartford crept within striking distance at 27-15 with 8:51 to play in the first half, BU ended almost any opportunity for a Hawks’ comeback as they continued on a 21-5 rampage to close the half. “There are not too many teams that would have beaten BU today,” said Leibovitz, who guided the Hawks within one victory of the NCAA tournament two years ago. “They might not have lost by the same margin as us, but you’ve seen spectacular performances out there. A guy goes 7-for-9 from three, 9-for-12 from the floor as a guard. Not all of those were open shots.” After being so close to the team’s first ever postseason bid only two seasons ago, and with many of the same players on the roster, the loss was not an easy one accept. “It’s disappointing for us as a team,” said junior Morgan Sabia. “It’s disappointing to have our seniors go out like this. It’s disappointing for our fans.” “Definitely, this is leaving a sour taste in all of our mouths. We’re going to come out hungry and work harder next year.”