Nine ties and twelve lead changes. That’s what it took to send Boston College men’s basketball to triple overtime for the first time in program history.
Fred Payne’s last-second 3-pointer at the end of regulation brought the Eagles back from a once 10-point deficit and forced overtime in BC’s game against Syracuse on Saturday.
The teams both scored nine points in the first overtime to force another extra period.
When the second overtime rolled around, the teams once again scored nine points each. So into triple overtime the game went.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, it was then that Donald Hand Jr. shut down.
It’s not a thing that happens frequently. Hand is normally BC’s best player. But something wasn’t clicking for him as the game got dire.
“We gotta learn how to win,” BC head coach Earl Grant said.
The magic that was working in the Eagles’ favor at the end of regulation disappeared into thin air as the game entered the third overtime. Syracuse (10–13, 5–8 Atlantic Coast) went on a 10–1 run, and ultimately beat BC (10–12, 2–10) 95–86.
All game long, Hand was the Eagles’ biggest weapon. He ended the game with 28 points, matching J.J. Starling for the most of any player.
With the Eagles down 85–87 at the beginning of the third overtime period, Hand headed to the stripe after a Syracuse foul. He made one of his two free throws and failed to tie the game up.
“Third overtime is a lot of minutes,” Grant said. “Think he played 50 minutes. That could be some of it. And I think that’s the reason why he missed a few of those free throws. Probably was fatigue.”
A minute and a half later, Hand had another chance to tie the game, but he missed the 3-point attempt to keep the Eagles behind 86–89.
“They did a good job denying him,” Grant said. “We tried to give him the ball some, and they did a good job denying him—pushing him off his cuts, trapping him.”
That was the last time the game was within one possession for the Eagles, as Starling drove into the paint for a layup on the Orange’s next possession to stretch the lead to five points.
Hand missed more free throws in Saturday’s game than he had in the last two months.
The loss is not all on Hand’s late-game struggles, though.
Joshua Beadle’s six turnovers—some of them made in crucial moments—contributed to the Orange’s 21 points off turnovers. BC was also outrebounded 7–2 in the third overtime, allowing Syracuse to take over and pull ahead for good.
The fact that the game went to overtime in the first place was the sign of a comeback from the Eagles as they struggled to get over a six to seven point hump for the majority of the second half of regulation.
But a 7–0 run to end the game, which included a clutch jumper from Hand and Payne’s shot, resurrected BC from the once 59–49 hole it had faced.
Hand was the first choice on the last shot of regulation, according to Grant. But when Syracuse denied Hand, Payne launched the three from deep off a toss from Chad Venning.
“That’s a huge shot,” Grant said. “Hopefully he can grow from it. And, you know, as we go down the final stretch of the season, maybe that gives him confidence to continue to grow up.”
Payne ended the game with 10 points, but he shot 3–14 from the field. Venning also contributed 11 points of his own, while Beadle and Hand combined for 44 points.
None of those players could find a way to make shots in the final period, though, and the Eagles fell on the road for their eighth loss in nine games.
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