Boston College men’s basketball ended the first half of its matchup against New Haven on pace to score 46 points. The worst-scoring team in the country (Louisiana) is averaging 56.8 points per game.
Thanks to Fred Payne, though, BC’s 44-point second half was enough for the Eagles (5–5) to come up with a 67–63 win over the Chargers (4–6) on Saturday afternoon in Conte Forum.
With the win, BC climbed back to .500 following an overtime loss to Louisiana State earlier this week.
“The same stuff I said before the game,” BC head coach Earl Grant answered when asked what he said at halftime. “I was wanting to see us execute the plan we had discussed. We did it in the second half.”
After coming off the bench for the first time all season following a fragrant foul last game, Payne scored 11 points in the first eight minutes of the second period to lead BC’s comeback effort. He finished the game with 18 points on 4-of-7 shooting from three in 33 minutes.
“We cleaned a few things up on offense, and again—we were more in our character,” Grant said. “We’re operating right now at about 65 percent. [A full] season can get you to 100 percent if you reach your potential. We know we got a really good team—real personnel—so we’re gonna keep building.”
Payne’s make from deep with 9:44 left in the game, cut New Haven’s lead—which the Chargers had held for the entire game up to that point—to 46–43. BC finished the game 10 of 25 from three as Jason Asemota, Donald Hand Jr., and Luka Toews each sank two.
“Second half, [Payne] made some crucial shots—he changed the flow of the second half, so that was huge,” Grant said. “But we don’t really need one, one guy in particular, to do it. [We’re] better together, so having more assists, sharing the ball—I thought that was the most important thing I saw in the second half.”
Asemota hit a floater immediately after Payne’s three. Then, a traveling violation on the Chargers gave BC an extra possession, which ended in Hand scoring his first points of the game. It truly couldn’t have come at a better time for the Eagles.
The junior guard hit a three with 8:34 to play, giving BC a 48–46 lead.
BC’s defense was inconsistent throughout the second half, though, and the Chargers were in the bonus with eight minutes to play. Toews fouled out with 1:18 left, and Stefano Faloppa hit both of his free throws to make it 60–59 BC.
Once again, though, Hand was there when it mattered. He sank a pull-up jumper from the left corner with 53 seconds to play, then made five free throws in the final 30 seconds.
Asemota came up big down the stretch, too, as he blocked a shot and took off in transition with a little more than six minutes to play.
The ball went out of bounds off him on the other end, but he hit a three from the left wing off the ensuing inbound to put BC up 52–48. The former 5-star recruit and Baylor transfer finished the game with a team-high seven boards and recorded eight points in his 15 minutes of action.
Another foul on BC and two free throws from New Haven cut that lead to two, but Jayden Hastings cleaned up on the boards and kissed a putback bucket off the glass to restore the Eagles’ four-point advantage.
Hand hit his second three of the game with 4:59 left to give BC a 57–51 lead—the Eagles’ largest of the game. But fouls and lackluster paint defense gave the Chargers the space they needed to force a dramatic finish.
Two free throws from Hastings in the final two minutes and a strong finish by Hand, however, helped BC overcome those struggles.
BC’s offense was stagnant through the first period, leading to its 23-point total as it headed into the locker room at half. New Haven came up with seven steals, and BC committed 10 turnovers as Toews led the Eagles in scoring with nine points.
Though he was one of the only players succeeding on offense for BC in the first half, Toews shot the ball much less in the second. He finished with 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field.
“I just wish we would play two halves like the second half—you know, it would have been different results,” Grant said. “We showed [what we’re] capable of, but [it] took us too long to get going. So I’m glad we got the win, but I got to give New Haven credit. They played hard—they played the right way. They did a lot of good things.”
