SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Through all the frustrations of a 6-25 season a year ago, Indiana basketball coach Tom Crean always seemed to find the silver lining.

But moments after IU squandered a seven-point lead in the final six minutes Friday night, dropping a 71-67 decision to Boston University in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off, Crean wore his disappointment on his sleeve in the postgame news conference.

“Until our guys understand the physicality of this game and understand that the margin of error any time you play a Division I game is so small, we’re going to struggle,‘’ Crean said. "We’ve just got to continue to work through it. There’s no doubt that year two is going to be filled with some excitement, but it’s also going to be filled with some serious potholes just like this.

“We have to understand how physical this game is and we just have to do better all the way down the line.’’

The loss dropped the Hoosiers (2-2) into the event’s seventh-place game at 10:30 a.m. Sunday against George Mason (2-2).

Indiana was outrebounded 52-32 by a Boston University team that wasn’t that much bigger than IU but hit the boards much harder. The Terriers (1-3) had 19 offensive rebounds and a 19-3 edge on the Hoosiers in second-chance points. After getting 24 offensive rebounds against Mississippi, IU was limited to five against Boston, with no player getting more than one.

“They absolutely throttled us on the glass, which they should because they were more aggressive,‘’ Crean said. "They were more physical, and our guys just don’t understand how physical this has to be. Eventually we will, but right now we don’t and it’s very, very painful. It’s hard on our team. It’s hard on our coaches. It’s hard on our families.

“But we’re going to find out exactly what I’m looking for in an Indiana player and exactly what is out there that I don’t want to see from an Indiana player. And if a guy can’t do enough things to be an Indiana player, then he can’t be an Indiana player. It starts with our guys looking in the mirror.’’

John Holland scored 21 points and Jake O’Brien had 14 points and 13 rebounds as Boston University won for the first time this season. It did so despite shooting 29.3 percent from the field and committing four more turnovers than Indiana.

When Christian Watford scored on an inside basket and then made a free throw with 5:50 to play, Indiana led 59-52 and momentum was clearly on the Hoosiers’ side. But a 17-6 run that included three 3-pointers quickly turned the tide.

“This one definitely hurts because we were up the whole game and I thought we played really aggressive for 35 minutes,‘’ said sophomore guard Verdell Jones III. "But once again we didn’t play a full 40 minutes like we needed to and the result is a loss.’’

Freshman guard Maurice Creek was unstoppable early, scoring 17 points in the first 14 minutes. However, he didn’t score the rest of the game.

“I was able to knock down the open shots early, but later on I was fading away a little bit and the shots just didn’t fall.

“Later on, they were pressuring me a little more, but I just didn’t hit the shots.’’

[chart]
|BOSTON|Min|FG-A|FT-A|OR-T|A|F|T|Pts|
|Sirutis|12|1-1|2-2|1-1|0|3|0|4|
|O’Brien|37|4-11|6-8|6-13|1|2|2|14|
|Lowe|29|2-13|3-5|2-8|3|3|6|8|
|Strong|24|1-7|4-6|1-2|2|3|0|7|
|Morris|38|3-7|4-4|0-5|5|1|1|13|
|Bailey|6|1-3|1-2|0-2|0|1|0|3|
|Holland|31|5-13|8-9|1-5|1|4|2|21|
|Pelage|18|0-2|0-2|3-9|0|4|4|0|
|Smith|5|0-1|1-2|0-1|0|0|0|1|
|Team||||5-6|||1||
|Totals||17-58|29-40|19-52|12|21|16|71|
[end chart]

3-point shooting: 8-22 (Morris 3-3, Holland 3-6, Lowe 1-7, Strong 1-3, O’Brien 0-2, Bailey 0-1). Steals: 6 (Strong 3, O’Brien, Lowe, Morris). Blocked shots: 3 (Lowe, Strong, Pelage). * *Technical fouls: Sirutis.

[chart]
|INDIANA|Min|FG-A|FT-A|OR-T|A|F|T|Pts|
|Watford|28|3-8|3-3|1-5|0|1|1|9|
|Pritchard|18|2-3|0-1|0-3|0|4|1|4|
|Creek|31|6-14|1-1|1-6|1|0|2|17|
|Rivers|34|4-13|5-6|1-6|4|3|3|13|
|Jones|29|5-10|4-8|0-5|6|3|1|14|
|Hulls|14|0-3|0-0|0-1|1|4|1|0|
|Capobianco|7|0-0|0-0|1-2|0|4|1|0|
|Elston|14|3-3|0-1|0-1|0|4|1|6|
|Dumes|13|1-3|1-2|1-1|2|2|1|4|
|Jobe|12|0-0|0-0|0-1|0|2|0|0|
|Team||||0-1|||||
|Totals||24-57|14-22|5-32|14|27|12|67|
[end chart]

3-point shooting : 5-13 (Creek 4-8, Dumes 1-1, Rivers 0-1, Elston 0-1, Hulls 0-2). Steals: 8 (Creek 3, Pritchard, Jones, Hulls, Elston, Dumes). Blocked shots: 6 (Pritchard 3, Rivers 2, Creek). Technical fouls: Jobe.

[chart]
||||||
|Boston|29|42|—|71|
|Indiana|34|33|—|67|
[end chart]

Officials: Terry Moore, Gerry Pollard, Don Daily. Attendance: 5,726.