With two seconds left in the first half of Boston College men’s basketball’s tilt against Central Connecticut, Jaeden Zackery jumped into the air and fired a shot from downtown. After the shot left his fingertips, Zackery watched as the ball banked swiftly into the net, just as the first-half buzzer roared.
The score extended BC’s lead over the Blue Devils to 49–23—the Eagles’ biggest halftime lead since its Nov. 18, 2022 win over George Mason.
The Eagles (6–3, 0–1 Atlantic Coast) continued to hold the lead throughout the entire second half and dominated Central Connecticut (3–5) 82–68 in Conte Forum on Tuesday night. But BC’s point production did not come solely from its typical starters, rather, it came from its bench.
BC’s bench delivered 46 points in its win over the Blue Devils.
“Today, it was obviously good for those guys who came off the bench,” BC head coach Earl Grant said. “Our bench got deeper today. You know 46 points is a lot, but I was happy to see that.”
Of those bench contributors, three-star recruit and current freshman Elijah Strong delivered a career-high with nine points.
“We finally found out how to get [Strong] into the game,” Grant said. “Elijah Strong had a career night. What he did today is what he does in practice, which is why I am not surprised. We see him everyday in practice and he is productive, energetic, and competitive.”
Alongside Strong, Donald Hand Jr. delivered a career-high performance with 16 points for the Eagles. Mason Madsen, the leading scorer for the Eagles in the first half, also brought shooting success to the Eagles with points on consecutive BC drives. With a jumper followed up by a 3-pointer, Madsen extended BC’s lead to seven points just over six minutes into the game.
“Donald and Mason were able to get a lot more minutes today than they normally would,” Grant said. “Elijah Strong had a career day, and I was just happy to develop our bench a little bit more.”
Madsen described how it felt to deliver points early on in the game.
“It definitely feels good to see [the ball] go through early,” Madsen said. “It definitely feels good to see the early ones go in, and it sets the tone for the rest of the game, as it opens up the floor for everyone else too.”
Following a Quinten Post score with 17:25 remaining in the first half, BC held a lead for the remainder of the game. The Eagles continued to extend their lead and were up 13 points less than nine minutes into the game.
In the first half, BC converted 53.8 percent of its 3-pointers and went a perfect 6 of 6 from the free-throw line—a clear improvement from its last game in which the Eagles shot 6 of 21 from the line. With 5:45 remaining in the first quarter, the Eagles extended their lead over Central Connecticut to 19 points.
By halftime, the Eagles led 49–23—the second 20-point lead at half this season for BC, alongside its win against Vanderbilt.
Despite a 14–0 Blue Devils’ scoring run in the game’s last 3:40, the Eagles still managed to pull off a double-digit victory.
“Most of our games have been battles and we won some with a little bit of a cushion, but this is the first time that we have been up that big,” Grant said.
BC recorded 25 points off turnovers and 11 steals in the game. The Blue Devils, meanwhile, scored just 12 points off turnovers and recorded five steals.
Coming off a close, overtime loss to NC State, the Eagles quickly rebounded.
“We just had to bounce back and continue to play BC basketball,” Hand said. “It’s a long season. We can’t let one game define us.”
Following the win, Grant remained optimistic about the team’s future.
“The starters did not play the last 14 minutes of the game,” Grant said. “Hopefully, we can build our bench more, and they can have more confidence to help us as we continue to go down the stretch before Christmas break.”
