Boxscore

BOSTON, Mass. -- Blue Hen sophomore guard D.J. Boney (at right) drilled a game-winning three-pointer with just 4.1 seconds on the clock to lead the University of Delaware men's basketball team to a thrilling 70-68 victory over Boston University Sunday afternoon at Case Gymnasium.

Boney finished with a career-high 14 points, all but one in the second half, to lead the Blue Hens to their third straight win. Delaware, which improved to 5-6 on the year, defeated the Terriers for the second consecutive season while posting its first three-game winning streak since early January. Boston University, which rallied from a late eight-point deficit before suffering the last-second loss, fell to 5-5 on the year.

Alphonso Dawson scored a team-high 20 points, his fifth 20-point game of the year, for the Blue Hens while Jawan Carter added 16 points and a career-high nine assists, including his last helper on Boney’s game-winning trey.

Corey Lowe scored a team-high 20 points for the Terriers, the America East preseason favorite who were coming off a narrow seven-point loss at 12th-ranked Notre Dame last week. Jake O’Brien added 14 points, John Holland contributed 11 points, and Matt Wolff posted a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.

Delaware led 63-55 with 7:03 remaining after a Boney three-pointer and a three-point play by Carter. The Blue Hens were still up 65-57 after a Dawson layup with 5:08 left, but Boston University scored four straight to make it 65-61 with 2:38 left on a Lowe basket.

Carter then hit two free throws to put Delaware back up six before Tyler Morris answered for the Terriers to cut the UD margin to 67-63 with 1:47 to play. After Marc Egerson and Dawson missed jumpers, O’Brien nailed a three-pointer to cut the Delaware lead to 67-66 with 31.1 seconds left.

After getting fouled Carter missed the front end of a 1-and-1, giving Boston University the ball with 18.5 seconds remaining. Holland missed a three-pointer from the corner, but Wolff was fouled by Jim Ledsome on the rebound. Wolff then hit two free throws to put the Terriers back on top by a point with 12.5 seconds to play

Following a UD timeout with 10 seconds to play Carter drove the left side of the lane before feeding Boney, who drained the game-winning three-pointer from the left corner with 4.1 seconds left. The Terriers, who were out of timeouts, advanced the ball to midcourt but were unable to get off a final desperation attempt.

“Coach told Jawan to drive and either shoot or pass to an opener shooter, and I happened to be open,” Boney said. “I just shot it and knocked it down.”

An early 14-2 run by Boston University gave the Terriers a 19-7 lead before the Blue Hens answered with eight consecutive points to pull within four. Delaware got as close as three late in the first half and trailed by only four at 33-29 at the break.

Both teams shot well to open the second half, and the Terriers were still up 43-38 before Delaware scored eight straight points to take its first lead of the game at 46-43 on a Dawson three-pointer with 14:26 remaining.

Delaware extended its advantage to 52-47 at the 11:53 mark on Ledsome’s dunk off a Brian Johnson miss, and a three-pointer by Boney made it a 55-51 game with 9:32 to play. The Terriers pulled within 57-55, but Boney drained another shot from behind the arc and Carter converted a three-point play to put UD ahead 63-55 with seven minutes to play.

“Our coaching staff has talked about the need to get our bench players more minutes, and leaving D.J. out there tonight certainly paid off for us,” third-year UD head coach Monté Ross said. “When Marc picked up his fourth foul early in the second half, other guys like D.J. and Jawan really stepped up.”

“We really tried to limit their three-point shooting, since they are such a dynamic three-point shooting team,” said Ross, whose team limited the Terriers to just 7 of 30 shooting from behind the arc. Boston University entered the game ranked fifth in the country in three-pointers made per game, but the Blue Hens went 8 of 24 from long distance to out-score the Terriers from three-point range.

Ledsome scored four points and grabbed a team-best six rebounds for the Blue Hens, while Johnson contributed nine points and Egerson had five points and five rebounds.

Delaware returns home Tuesday to host Marist at 7 p.m. at the Bob Carpenter Center.