the Informer

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 get 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.

“We have to be the best team we can be at the end of the season,” Lowe said.

While it was the BU offense dominating the first half, head coach Patrick Chambers was more impressed with his team’s defensive intensity.

“People say defense wins championships,” he said, “and we’re 7-1 now playing great defense.”