Terriers back on upswing in streaky season

--The Boston University season? Just call it streaky: four straight losses, then four wins, then seven losses and then six wins in a row through Jan. 22.

--Albany junior G Gerardo Suero, who had been dominating the conference, scored just six points at Boston University on Jan. 16, then had 16 at Vermont but was guilty of six turnovers, including a crucial late miscue.

"I feel like I lost this game," he said. "That turnover, I feel like it was my fault. That turnover, that was the one that lost it."

Suero was still leading the league (and was fourth in the country) in scoring through Jan. 22, his average of 21.3 points per game still better than the 20.0 average of Boston University's Darryl Partin.

--Partin, a senior swingman, scored all 22 of his points in the second half to help the Terriers win at Hartford, ending the Hawks' three-game winning streak. Sophomore guard D.J. Irving had 15 points, seven assists and only two turnovers.

--Stony Brook was playing strong defense and the kind of basketball that could leave the Seawolves standing at the end.

"Sometimes (in) these games, you just have to go and try to grind out a win," coach Steve Pikiell said after Stony Brook's 56-52 win at Maine. "We were fortunate enough to do that today."

The Seawolves yielded just 52 points in consecutive wins, getting Maine to turn the ball over a season-worst 22 times.

"That's the most turnovers we've had in a long time, but give them credit," Maine coach Ted Woodward said. "They're always reaching, grabbing, going for the basketball, getting you off your spots. We've got to continue to be stronger in those situations."

--Vermont scored a pair of double-digit wins to get to 11-10, the Catamounts' first time over .500 since 4-3, and then they won by 28 at UMBC to make it six wins in the past seven games through Jan. 22.

"Great road win tonight down here in Baltimore," coach John Becker said. "League wins are always difficult to get, and I thought our guys came out focused and ready to go from the jump. Great team effort, six guys in double figures and Brian (Voelkel) with 10 assists and seven rebounds.

"We are really happy with this win and are looking forward to the second half of league play."

--Albany lost a tough one at Vermont.

Said junior center/captain Blake Metcalf: "We took one of the best teams in the conference down to the wire on their home court. But I'm not going to be happy with moral victories. It's not going to make my bus ride home any happier."

--It takes more than a 20-game losing streak to get Binghamton coach Mark Macon down.

"I have a smile every day even when I walk out of here and I'm very un-eased," he said after the loss to New Hampshire on Jan. 22. "When I get in there with those guys, and I might be ready to blow my stack, but when you walk into a locker room and you hear silence and you see guys just looking out in the forest but they can't see the trees, then you have to give them something. You have to water them is what I'll say. You have to water those trees so those trees will stand out. That's what I do."

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