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.

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.

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.

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.

Zack Burwell remembers well the day he received "the torch" from friend and teammate Jay Hillman. Burwell has maintained the high standard set by Hillman and has run well with his burden ever since for the Boston University football team. "I think Jay needed 215 yards that day to get 1,000 for the season," said Burwell, who is a graduate of Germantown Academy. "I think at that point we were 4-6, and it went to overtime against Connecticut. He got his 1,000th yard and at that moment it was really exciting.

A Boston University student from Blue Bell and a schoolmate were killed early yesterday when they were struck by a commuter train near the campus. Andrew Ritter Voluck, 20, a sophomore in the university's College of General Studies, "was very hardworking and very well-liked," Boston University spokesman Colin Riley said. "The faculty and his classmates were very fond of him and were terribly shocked and saddened. " "We don't know what happened yet," Riley said. Police were trying to determine what Voluck and Molly Ferguson Shattuck, 19, a freshman from Ipswich, Mass.

BOSTON - With graduation looming, a time for celebration turned somber at Boston University on Saturday, as students who were packing up at the end of the school year learned that three classmates studying in New Zealand were killed when their minivan crashed during a weekend trip. At least five other students were injured in the accident early Saturday, including one who was in critical condition. Boston University spokesman Colin Riley said those killed in the accident were Daniela Lekhno, 20, of Manalapan, N.J.; Austin Brashears, 21, of Huntington Beach, Calif.; and Roch Jauberty, 21, whose parents live in Paris.

Boys' Latin's Maurice Watson Jr. and Prep Charter's Kahleah Copper on Wednesday were named winners of the fifth annual Phoenix Awards. The Phoenix Club of Philadelphia was created in 2008 by Michael Horsey, a local certified public accountant, to recognize the most outstanding boys' and girls' senior basketball players in the Public League. Watson, a 5-foot-10 point guard who signed with Boston University, averaged 21.8 points this season. He scored 2,356 career points. Copper, a 6-1 point guard, is regarded as the nation's 17th-best female college prospect in the Class of 2012, according to ESPN. The Rutgers signee participated in Wednesday's McDonald's All American girls' game in Chicago and scored two points and pulled down four rebounds in 14 minutes.

BOSTON - The Flyers could move a step closer toward a franchise record for road wins in a season on Saturday, but the fact the game is in the afternoon doesn't work to their advantage. They meet the free-falling Boston Bruins at TD Garden at 1 p.m. In games that have started between 1 and 3 p.m. this season, the Flyers are 3-8-1. "Maybe it's because we usually take a nap at 1 o'clock," veteran right winger Jaromir Jagr joked after Friday's practice at Boston University.

Kevin H. White, 82, a four-term mayor who led Boston through years of racial violence and economic stagnation and was credited with putting the city on a path to prosperity, died Friday at his Beacon Hill home, said George Regan, a family spokesman and friend. Mayor White had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2003. "He was a man who built Boston into the world-class city it is today," said Regan, who called his loss "devastating. " Mayor White, an Irish Catholic from a family of politicians, is credited with revitalizing Boston's downtown and seeing the city through court-ordered busing, but he ended his tenure in 1983 under a cloud of ethics suspicions.

QUENTIN DAVIS is hardly the only basketball player who subjects himself to grueling workouts. Wednesday night, however, he certainly opted for unusual circumstances. Davis, a 6-6, 185-pound senior forward for Math, Civics & Sciences Charter, lives on Large Street in Frankford, around the corner from Simpson Playground. And if you're familiar with the city's naming system for facilities, you know what that means: Playgrounds don't have inside courts, while rec centers do. It was pretty darn cold on Wednesday night.

Tyreek Duren's unerring jump shots and heady floor game certainly pleased La Salle coach John Giannini. So did Ramon Galloway's hyperactivity and the continued progress of freshman big man Jerrell Wright. Yet, what Giannini wants more than anything from this season's Explorers is a commitment to defense, an important aspect of the game that was of little interest to the 2010-11 Explorers. The kind of play that used to drive Giannini to histrionics is no longer acceptable to the La Salle players, and it was again evident in Thursday night's breezy, 70-53 win over Boston University at Tom Gola Arena.

Villanova coach Jay Wright thought his team shot poorly in the opening half Tuesday night against Boston University, but he didn't quite realize how badly until he looked at his box score in mid-sentence of his postgame interview. "I just saw this," he said. "I was going to say it seemed like we missed our last 20 shots [of the half]. We missed our last 16. But I like that we went through that and came in to the halftime and nobody was frustrated. " Following a shooting drought that lasted nearly nine minutes, the Wildcats picked up their offense in the second half, clamped down on the Terriers at the defensive end, and rolled to a 68-43 victory at the Wells Fargo Center before a crowd of 8,313.

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.