Apparently one overtime game in one week wasn’t enough for Boston College men’s basketball.
Because just four days after falling to Syracuse in triple overtime, the Eagles’ late-game struggles surfaced once again, this time at home at Conte Forum against Notre Dame on a Wednesday night with a 9 p.m. tipoff.
But this time, it only took two overtimes for BC to send Eagles fans home with their heads down and hopes crushed.
“It’s unfortunate for the players and for the fans who stayed until midnight that we didn’t pull this game out,” BC head coach Earl Grant said.
The Eagles’ offense crumbled when it was needed most, as they proved incapable of holding onto the ball and getting quality shots in the closing minutes of regulation and both overtimes. Notre Dame’s Markus Burton, who tallied 32 points, proved too much for BC to handle.
And Donald Hand Jr.’s 17 points simply wasn’t enough. His half court heave missed the mark and handed BC (10–14, 2–11 Atlantic Coast) a 97–94 loss to the Fighting Irish (11–13, 5–8). The third year guard, and BC’s leading scorer this season, let out a roar of frustration that encapsulated the Eagles’ season thus far.
“The effort was there, you know,” Grant said. “The preparation was there.”
But the execution wasn’t.
The Eagles’ offense simply ran out of steam by the time the second overtime started. Notre Dame sprinted out to a 93–88 lead in the first two points, led by four Tae Davis points. A flagrant 2 call on Julian Roper II gave BC four points of its own with two Hand free throws and a Dion Brown layup.
But Hand followed that up with a fadeaway 3-pointer from the corners after a clunky offensive possession with no clear direction, a theme all season late in the game for the Eagles.
Grant said the late-game struggles are a combination of his team being inexperienced and also the talent of the ACC.
“We need to execute a little bit better,” Grant said. “Obviously, we got a young group, but it’s also, you know, we’re in the ACC, they had a kid that had 32 points.”
The Eagles, however, couldn’t get a stop or rebound on the other end after Hand’s miss. Kebbe Njie followed up Burton’s missed layup with a tip in and a foul, sending Chad Venning to the bench with five fouls.
Njie missed the free throw, but on the other end, Brown’s awkward, double clutch midrange shot clanked off the rim to leave BC with Hand’s desperation half court shot that sealed the loss for the Eagles.
The Eagles couldn’t rebound in the first overtime, either. They allowed the Fighting Irish to grab three offensive boards in the period, which led to three Notre Dame points. In total, BC allowed 16 offensive rebounds all game.
“That’s just unacceptable,” Grant said regarding the rebounds.
Hand managed to save BC from its rebounding struggles in the first overtime, as he nailed a top-of-the-key 3-pointer to tie the game at 85 apiece. The Eagles then had a chance to win the game with 13 seconds left, but a Venning isolation post up resulted in a mid range shot that couldn’t find the bottom of the rim.
Venning had a similar shot at the end of regulation—a post up turned fadeaway jumper—that also didn’t go in, which sent the game to its first overtime at 80 apiece.
“You want to get into the basket,” Grant said of Venning’s two shots. “We knew we were in the bonus. So rather that was the player not being able to execute that and make that play, or the defense being that good, I’m not sure.”
The Eagles, who once had a 14 point lead in the second half, surrendered a 12–4 run in the closing minutes of regulation to allow Notre Dame to tie the game.
Wednesday marked the fifth conference game this season the Eagles have lost by nine points or less.
Grant expressed confidence in keeping his locker room together despite the struggles.
“I think you just keep encouraging them,” Grant said. We’ve been in a lot of close battles. So you keep encouraging, you keep practicing, you keep showing up, because at the end of the day, you know, this is the season, right? And you gonna win some, you gonna lose some.”
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