Boston University

Archbishop Carroll senior D.J. Irving gave an oral commitment to play basketball at Boston University. The 5-foot-10 point guard chose the Terriers over Rider yesterday. Irving is scheduled to sign a binding national letter of intent on Nov. 16. "I just felt more comfortable with the coaches at Boston," Irving said of his decision. "And I got the feeling my parents felt more comfortable. " A reigning all-Catholic League Blue Division selection, Irving averaged 19.7 points, 3.2 assists, 3.1 rebounds, and 2.4 steals in Carroll's playoff run to last season's Class AAA state title.

La Salle junior Davineia Payne had already missed several opportunities to be a heroine against Boston University yesterday in a nonconference matchup at the Explorers' Tom Gola Arena. However, when the ball got into her hands with seven seconds remaining in the second overtime, Payne delivered from inside the arc on a jump shot, and the Explorers escaped with an 89-87 victory. "I haven't been in too many overtime games," Payne said after the closely fought contest. "This was in double overtime, so my heart was really racing.

Boys' Latin senior Maurice Watson made an oral commitment Wednesday to play basketball at Boston University. The 5-foot-10 point guard, who had 18 scholarship offers, ultimately picked the Terriers over Virginia, La Salle, Niagara, and Hofstra. "The reason I chose BU was because I could see myself going to the university [even] if it wasn't for basketball," Watson said. "I've been out to the city. I love the city. It reminds me of Philly so much. "I have some friends that are already on the team.

Jake O'Brien craves an opportunity to play in the NCAA tournament. The former Boston University standout believes Temple, a team coming off five consecutive tourney appearances, will provide just that. That's why the 6-foot-9 forward decided Wednesday to transfer to North Broad Street over Boston College, Providence, and Virginia. "Coach [Fran] Dunphy is a great coach," O'Brien said. "After meeting his staff and the players, I knew it was the right fit for me. " The 23-year-old has one year of eligibility remaining and will be able to play right away.

For Boston University coach Patrick Chambers, the second round of the NIT Season Tip-Off will be a special occasion. The Terriers knocked off George Washington, 76-67, Tuesday night in the tournament's first round to earn a date Wednesday night with Villanova, where Chambers spent four years on Jay Wright's staff, the final one as associate head coach. "You never want to go against a friend," Chambers said. "I love him. He gave me an opportunity, my first job, and I'll be forever grateful.

DETROIT - When teams have the kind of success that Villanova is having, other programs tend to notice. So, not surprisingly, somebody is interested in Jay Wright's associate head coach, Patrick Chambers, who has been on the staff since 2005. Last week, while Villanova was in Boston winning the East Regional title, Chambers met with officials at Boston University to discuss their vacant head-coaching position. The talks were described as very preliminary. "We talked," Chambers confirmed yesterday at Ford Field.

Even with success comes loss, and Villanova coach Jay Wright, fresh off the Wildcats' Final Four appearance, is losing associate head coach Pat Chambers, who was at Boston University yesterday, finalizing a contract to be its next head coach. He will be introduced by the school tomorrow. He succeeds Dennis Wolff, who was fired last month after 15 seasons. The Terriers went 17-13 this season. "He's right; he's ready," Wright said. "He was associate coach for 1 year and he did an incredible job. I put a lot of pressure on that spot.

The bus was parked at a rest stop Sunday afternoon, the players stretching their legs. The man in the first seat figured "Philly North" needed an extra day in town, so his team was headed to the Conshohocken Marriott well in advance of tonight's game at No. 6 Villanova. Patrick Chambers' last moments on a Villanova sideline were in that 2009 Final Four game against North Carolina in Detroit. Tonight, his second Boston University team will play George Washington in the second game of a preseason NIT doubleheader.

Archbishop Prendergast fans will have another runner on the Division I level to cheer next year. Tara Johnson is the latest Prendergast star to accept a track and field and cross-country scholarship. The senior signed an official letter of intent last month to attend Boston University, which finished 18th at Division I nationals this past cross-country season. In various college meets, Johnson likely will compete against various Prendergast graduates. At the NCAA Northeast national cross-country qualifier at Lehigh University last month, Pandas coach Anthony Carr was cheering La Salle's ToniAnn Razzi (Prendergast, 1996)

In any other year, their red uniforms would have blurred into the kaleidescope of color at the world's oldest and largest track and field carnival. This year was different for the women who wore those bright tops emblazoned with six large letters: "B-O-S-T-O-N. " "Everybody was saying something to us," said Boston University's Nikko Brady, a senior from New Castle, Del., who ran the opening leg on the Terriers' 4x100 relay team at the Penn Relays on Thursday. "Everybody was like, 'We got you, Boston.

BOSTON - Like many overseas Chinese, she had taken an American first name: Dorothy. On Wednesday, after her family confirmed her death in the Boston Marathon bombing, she received an American tribute. Outside the Daniel Marsh Chapel on the campus of Boston University, students placed bouquets in memory of Lu Lingzi, a graduate student who studied statistics. Someone set down a pair of Reebok running shoes. Someone else left a green hat with a shamrock. Nearby, U.S. and university flags flew at half-staff.

The runners were everywhere in the lobby of the Cambridge hotel when I went down to get coffee early Monday morning. It was chilly outside, good for marathoners, and you could tell how chilly as the two eight-man crew teams from Boston University glided by the lobby windows, bundled up against the stiff breeze on the Charles River. Marathoners are an odd lot. The difficulty of what they do makes them quirky, at least the amateurs, and this group was a roving, pacing, flexing bundle of nerves and excitement while waiting for the shuttle to Hopkinton and the start of the 117th Boston Marathon.

THE DAY after the Boston Marathon terror attack was a day for mourning the dead and the maimed, for marveling at the heroes who ran into the attack zone to save lives, and for wondering who carried out such an evil and cowardly attack, and why. Americans went to bed Tuesday night still coping with the worst kind of terror - terror of the unknown - as the identity of a killer who detonated two shrapnel-laden bombs near the finish line of Boston's iconic...

THE BOSTON Marathon bomber has been caught . . . on film. Law-enforcement authorities revealed Wednesday that they are "very close" - as a source told the Boston Globe - to a major break in the case of the worst domestic bombing attack since 9/11 after surveillance video captured footage of a suspect carrying and possibly dropping a black bag at the scene of the second of two explosions. A spokeswoman for Boston Mayor Thomas Menino told the newspaper that "the best source of video" has proved to be a Lord & Taylor department store that faces out toward the sidewalk where one of the bombs - which killed three spectators at the iconic race on Monday and injured more than 170 others - went off. That recorded video was one of many pieces of film - footage taken not just from store or street surveillance cameras but also spectator videos and TV news cameras recording some of the 23,000 runners crossing the finish line - that seem to be helping agents heat up a trail that might have otherwise grown cold, some 48 hours after the stunning attack.

BOSTON - Third grader Martin Richard had just gotten ice cream and was near the Boston Marathon finish line, eagerly watching for friends to run by. Krystle Campbell was enjoying the race with her best friend, hoping to get a photo of the other woman's boyfriend after he conquered the last mile. Then the unthinkable. The spirited 8-year-old with a wide grin was dead, along with the outgoing 29-year-old woman as well as a Chinese national graduate student at Boston University - three victims of twin blasts that turned a scene of celebration into chaos.

Jill Beccaris-Pescatore of Glenside had just finished the Boston Marathon and was about a block and a half from the finish line when she heard two explosions. "It sounded bomb-like," said Beccaris-Pescatore, 45, a veteran marathon runner. "It was something that didn't sound right, and everyone was concerned. " Runners and spectators from the Philadelphia area described a gorgeous day - "perfect running weather," said Beccaris-Pescatore - that turned into a nightmare. Emily Russo, 20, a Haddonfield High School graduate, had just cheered as her Tufts University schoolmates passed the 26-mile mark.

Let me start by stating the obvious. Khalif Wyatt must have a solid game if Temple expects to advance beyond its first game of the NCAA tournament for the second time in six seasons. The senior guard struggled through 4-for-19 shooting in Temple's Atlantic Ten quarterfinal loss to Massachusetts. But when he's on, the Owls (24-9) have a chance to beat anyone. Temple must also find a way to slow down North Carolina State's high-scoring offense in the East Regional second-rounder here at University of Dayton Arena.

South Jersey's College Commitments Athletes who will compete in a winter or spring sport in college (except for track and field) began signing national letters of intent on Wednesday. Here are some of the South Jersey athletes who have committed to NCAA Division I and II colleges in those sports. Boys' Basketball Kyle Green   Camden Catholic   Temple    David Sullivan   St. Augustine   St. Michael's    Girls' Basketball Deja Bullock   Triton   La Salle    Briana Logan   Rancocas Valley   Siena    Micahya Owens   Willingboro   La Salle    Imani Stepney   Willingboro   American Intl.    Jordan Woods-Dipace   Rancocas Valley   Davidson    Baseball Frank Angeloni   Highland   Concordia    Tom Bradway   Mainland   Lafayette    Zac Gallen   Bishop Eustace   North Carolina    Nick Cieri   Rancocas Valley   Maryland    Jarrett DeHart   Shawnee   Louisiana State    Derek DeMarra   Gloucester Catholic   Philadelphia    Nick Freijomil   Delsea   Long Island    Giovanni Gussen   Gloucester Catholic   Rider    Shane Hughes   Washington Twp.   Monmouth    Sean Kelly   Cherokee   Rutgers    Brandon McCall   West Deptford   Limestone    Chris Oakley   St.

Neumann-Goretti's John Davis, a 6-foot-5, 200-pound senior forward, has committed to play basketball at Towson. "It's a place where I think I can really progress as a player," he said. "They have an up-tempo style, just like at Neumann-Goretti. " Last season, while helping the Saints go 28-3 and win their third straight PIAA Class AAA state championship, Davis earned first-team all-Catholic League honors. The 18-year-old, who lives near 5th and Washington in South Philly, also had scholarship offers from Boston University, Delaware, Florida Atlantic, La Salle and Robert Morris.