EASTON, Pa. – The Lafayette men's basketball team had a pair of chances to win it late on Wednesday evening at Kirby Sports Center, but sophomore Alex Petrie and junior Lukas Jarrett both went off the mark as Boston U. stole an 84-82 win from the Leopards to make the Patriot League Tournament picture that much more clustered.

The Leopards are now one of three teams at 7-10, tied with Boston U. and Navy, both teams Lafayette split with this season. Loyola and Holy Cross are one game back at 6-11, while American and Army sit one game ahead at 8-9 each.
The best possible scenario for the Maroon and White would be a win on Saturday against Colgate and wins by Navy and Holy Cross, putting the Leopards in a three-way tie for sixth with Navy and American. If those results surface, Lafayette would win that tiebreaker by virtue of its sweep over the Eagles this season and a 3-1 record against those opponents, earning the sixth seed in the tournament and a first-round bye.

Check back with GoLeopards.com and Lafayette athletics' various social media outlets with updates when full scenarios produced by the Patriot League are made available later this week.

Wednesday's game was an offensive slugfest with 42 combined fouls between the two sides resulting in 47 free-throw attempts. Nine different players from the two teams finished in double-figure scoring, led by a game-high 28 from Boston U.'s Max Mahoney, who went 12-for-15 from the field in the win.

Sophomore Alex Petrie led five double-digit Leopards offensively with 19 points, followed by 17 from classmate Justin Jaworski and 15 from fellow sophomore E.J. Stephens. Senior co-captain Paulius Zalys and junior Lukas Jarrett each added 11, with Jarrett finishing two boards shy of a double-double with eight rebounds.

Lafayette came close to overcoming a particularly hot shooting night from the visitors, who made 58.3 percent of their shots on 35-of-60 from the field. The Leopards countered at 26-of-53 overall, a 49.1 percent clip, and made 10-of-27 from beyond the arc (37.0%).

The Terriers took control early as back-to-back buckets from Mahoney around the 16-minute mark put the visiting lead at six, 11-5. That momentum continued through the 12-minute timeout as a 10-4 run extended the advantage to 10, 21-11.

Petrie's three out of the break cut the edge to seven, but the Terrier offense continued to stay hot and points were hard to come by for the Maroon and White as the visiting lead grew to 14, 29-15. Then, Lafayette started to find its way as back-to-back triples from Jaworski brought the Leopards back within five at 35-30 with 4:06 to play in the half.

A finish through a foul from Jarrett, and Stephens' layup down the lane off a beautiful feed from freshman Isaac Suffren made it a one-point game at 36-35 with 2:29 left. Boston U. countered with a pair to lead by four into the final possession, but Jarrett flew in for a put-back at the buzzer to send the game to the break with the Leopards down just two, 40-38.

Lafayette came out with better energy in the second as Jaworski drilled a three through a foul on the left wing with 16:02 on the clock to take over the lead by five, 53-48. The Leopards' lead grew as high as eight at 65-57, but the Terriers answered with back-to-back buckets to pull within four, 65-61, past the midway point.

Boston U. kept coming and eventually took a 73-69 lead into the final six minutes, but Lafayette answered to send the game under the three-minute mark tied at 75. The Terriers responded with five straight to go up 80-75 with 2:37 left, but Zalys' baseline jumper and a deep three from Petrie tied it again at 80-80 at 1:41 to play.

Mahoney and Zalys traded layups around the one-minute mark and the Terriers' Javante McCoy hit a pair of free throws to put the Terriers ahead for good, 84-82, with 27 seconds left. Boston U. missed all four free throws in the final 11 seconds, but jumpers from Petrie and Jarrett both wouldn't fall as the buzzer sounded on defeat.

Lafayette closes its regular season with Senior Day on Saturday, honoring the careers of co-captains Auston Evans and Zalys prior to its tilt with Colgate at Kirby Sports Center. Opening tip with the Raiders is set for 12 p.m.