Sola Adebisi hit a 3-pointer to put the Citadel up 16–7, and Donald Hand Jr. missed on the other end. More than six minutes had elapsed, and Boston College men’s basketball was yet to make a field goal.
“Early, they threw the kitchen sink at us—they were changing defenses every possession,” BC head coach Earl Grant. “There’s some things that we hadn’t seen. So, I’m glad we saw it all.”
Freshman Marko Radunovic laid the ball in 1:26 later for the Eagles’ (1–1) first field goal of the night, and something changed. By the end of the half, BC had outscored the Bulldogs (1–1) 31–11 and earned a 38–24 lead.
Calling it a comeback might be a bit dramatic, considering the Eagles never trailed by more than nine points.
But it was a comeback of sorts—BC’s energy completely shifted as its defensive intensity grew, leading to more offensive opportunities and a 76–47 win in its home opener on Thursday night.
Chase Forte finished at the rim 48 seconds after Radunovic scored the Eagles’ first field goal of the game. Then, Radunovic hit a 3-pointer off a Forte assist to tie the game at 16. Jason Asemota’s and-1 bucket 28 seconds later gave the Eagles the lead, and BC never trailed after that.
“It is refreshing to have a bench,” Grant said. “I think the difference [from last year] is we have an experienced group coming off the bench. We’ve got guys who are in their third year playing in high-level conferences.”
The Eagles’ offensive production was evenly spread out, as Radunovic finished the first half with a team-leading seven points. He did not score in the second half, but his presence had already been felt. He finished the game with seven points and nine rebounds.
But it was not a dominant offensive performance that earned the Eagles a 14-point lead as the teams headed into their locker rooms at half—it was what they did on the other end of the floor.
“Our identity is defense,” Grant said. “I mean, we got to know who we are. You can’t be confused about who you are. We talked about that a couple of days ago—that we may score 80 points, we may score 60. But if we can hold our opponents down and make them have a hard time, make them uncomfortable, make them see a lot of hands and a lot of length … that’s something we can control.”
With four minutes remaining in the half, center Jayden Hastings denied his man, swatting the ball out of bounds on an attempted entry pass into the paint. BC’s 6-foot-9 Missouri-transfer Aidan Shaw locked down his man following the ensuing inbound, forcing a shot-clock violation.
That defense quickly turned into offense, as Shaw hit Hastings, also listed at 6-foot-9, for a dunk on the other end, making it 30–18 BC. Hastings finished the game with two blocks and a steal to go along with six points.
“We wanted to get bigger, but what we do know is we got to keep developing,” Grant said. “We got to keep developing, stay hungry, and take it one day at a time.”
The Eagles started the second half with similar momentum, as Forte hit a stepback, and Hand got things going with a turnaround jumper on the baseline.
With 7:37 to play, Hand gave up an inside look, dishing it out to Jason Asemota in the corner. When Asemota missed, though, Hand was in the perfect place to grab the offensive rebound and go back up with it.
Asemota grabbed another offensive rebound less than 30 seconds later, and Fred Payne scored an and-1 on the next play to stretch BC’s lead to 23.
The Eagles, led by Hand, never let up as the junior guard scored 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds in BC’s first win of the season.
“I’m just truly blessed to have Coach Grant and a point guard like Chase,” Hand said.
