After two Jaeden Zackery free throws put Boston College men’s basketball ahead 66–57 with 3:53 remaining in the game—its largest lead of the day—it appeared the Eagles had a big enough lead to walk away with a victory.
Loyola Chicago, however, had other ideas, as the Ramblers (3–3) ended the game on a 14–2 run to snatch a 71–68 win over BC (4–2) in the consolation game of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City, Mo., on Thanksgiving.
“Certainly it was a painful way to lose,” BC head coach Earl Grant said. “It happened quick. We just [weren’t] sound enough.”
Quinten Post scored a game-high 25 points along with nine rebounds, but his corner 3-pointer to tie the game as time expired was no good, sealing BC’s fate.
Only one other BC starter scored in double figures. Zackery, BC’s third-leading scorer this season, notched only four points. Second-leading scorer Claudell Harris Jr. tallied nine points, four rebounds, and three steals.
“Give them a lot of credit,” Harris said of Loyola Chicago. “They really rallied together as a team. Their togetherness was solid, so we’ve just got to get back to practice, see what we can do better.”
Harris said he believes he and his teammates did enough to help Post despite the loss.
“It’s early in the season, so there’s always going to be things to tweak and move around, but I feel like we’re in a good spot right now,” Harris said.
The Eagles started their bout with Loyola Chicago with sluggish and impatient play, missing the entire basket on a 3-point attempt and throwing the ball out of bounds on subsequent early possessions. While BC efficiently clogged passing lanes and poked the ball away, forcing 16 turnovers on the day, it seemed that nearly every Eagles steal was offset with a missed jumper.
On the defensive side, BC struggled to properly contest Loyola Chicago’s shooters, allowing 44.8 percent 3-point shooting on 13 Ramblers makes, including a 4-for-5 first half from guard Braden Norris.
“Some of them were contested, but any time a team makes that many threes, you do gotta give them some credit,” Grant said. “You know, a 3-point shot is not a 100 percent shot. Some of those guys are 30 percent 3-point shooters. They banged [them] in.”
Chas Kelley III, however, played his best game on the season thus far. His contested 3-pointer with five seconds remaining put BC down 35–30 heading into halftime.
Kelley finished with a season-high eight points.
And while BC managed to take a nine-point lead with about four minutes left in the game, the Eagles’ offense went cold, as it scored only two points in the rest of the game. It didn’t help that the Eagles gave Loyola Chicago seven free throws during its 14–2 run, allowing the Ramblers to score without the clock running.
Miles Rubin’s jumper with 57 seconds left gave Loyola Chicago a 68–66 lead—a lead it wouldn’t give up.
“Obviously the clock is our ally,” Grant said. “We fouled, they made the free throws.
Grant, however, offered some optimism following the late-game collapse.
“It’s a long season,” Grant said. “It’s hard to win games. We’ve got 28 more games. If I’m a fan that’d be a painful loss, the same way it was painful for me. If you like basketball and you love your program, certainly it’s gonna be painful if you lost the game.”
