WORCESTER - Junior forward Omari Peterkin scored a career-high 19 points and senior forward Kevin Gardner added 13, however the Terriers fell just short at Holy Cross, losing to the Crusaders 57-55 Monday night at Hart Gymnasium. BU, which led by four with four minutes remaining, relinquished the lead with 1:23 left and could not recover, as the Terriers lost to Holy Cross for the third straight season. BU, which had won five of its last seven, dropped to 5-8 overall in its final nonconference game of the season. The Crusaders improved to 7-7.

BU led 51-47 with 4:01 left after Corey Hassan hit a pair of free throws, but Holy Cross roared back on two Kevin Hamilton free throws and a Torey Thomas three-pointer to take a 52-51 lead. A Peterkin hoop reclaimed the lead for BU, but Tim Clifford's bucket put Holy Cross ahead 54-53 with 1:23 left. Alex Vander Baan and Brian Macon traded free throws and the Crusader lead was 56-55. Thomas made one of two free throws with 5.7 seconds left, and Tony Gaffney's shot from the corner to tie at the buzzer fell short.

Thomas led Holy Cross with 14, while Hamilton had 12. BU outshot the Crusaders 44% - 40%, however the Terriers were victimized by 17 turnovers against an aggressive Holy Cross defense.

"We did a nice job of putting the ball inside where we wanted it, but we just didn't finish at the free-throw line," said BU head coach Dennis Wolff, as BU was just 11-23 from the charity stripe. "I thought that was the story of the game. It is a credit to Holy Cross. It was a drag out game, they just made more plays than we did."

Gardner and Peterkin carried BU on their back in the early moments of the second half, scoring 14 of the Terriers' first 16 points after intermission. Gardner had eight consecutive BU points on strong low-post moves, and the duo helped the Terriers trim a 38-30 deficit to two, 40-38 with 12 minutes remaining. A Shaun Wynn put-back would tie the game at 40-40, and two athletic hoops by Tony Gaffney kept the score knotted at 44. Peterkin hit a jumper in the lane to give the Terriers a 46-44 edge with 6:08 remaining and it would be their first lead since the 12:53 mark of the first half.

BU went over eight minutes without a field goal in the first half, as the Holy Cross defense clamped up. After a Wynn bucket with 8:02 remaining tied the game at 19-19, the Crusaders went on an 8-1 run to take their biggest lead of the half, 27-20. The Terriers went into the halftime locker room with momentum, however, as Peterkin tipped in a Hassan miss at the buzzer, and despite the drought, the Terriers trailed by just five, 27-22.

BU concludes its seven-game road swing on Thursday night when the Terriers take on America East foe UMBC in Baltimore, Md. Game time is 7 p.m. at the Retrievers Activities Center. The contest can be heard on the on 1150-AM WTTT and on the internet at www.goterriers.com.