Boston College men’s basketball has certainly been keeping fans on the edge of their seats.
Boden Kapke hit the game-winning three in the final minute, Fred Payne scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half, and the Eagles stifled Pittsburgh’s comeback effort to earn a 65–62 win at home on Wednesday night.
The win was BC’s (9–10, 2–4 Atlantic Coast) second straight conference win following the Eagles’ overtime win over Syracuse on Saturday. Pittsburgh (8–11, 1–5) and BC were tied for the second-to-last spot in the ACC going into Wednesday’s game.
“Just happy we’ve been able to get over the hump,” BC head coach Earl Grant said. “Guys are practicing hard, really trying to believe in what we’re doing, and hopefully, we can build on it.”
Despite 11-of-28 shooting through the first 20 minutes, BC went into the half with a 28–22 lead as Pittsburgh shot 7 of 30 and missed 11 layups.
“We were very fortunate to only be down six at the half,” Pittsburgh head coach Jeff Capel said.
Boden was the Eagles’ leading scorer through the first half, scoring 12 of his season-high 19 total points as he used his size to get to the rim.
Pittsburgh turned things up coming out of the half, though, beginning the second half on an 8–0 run. But—just as he would for the rest of the half—Payne answered, hitting a jumper on the other end to regain BC’s lead.
“We finished at the rim, and we got into a little bit better rhythm,” Capel said. “And then Payne got going.”
Pittsburgh took a 45–39 lead, with 12:03 to go, and it looked like the momentum was shifting in Pitt’s favor, perhaps for good. But Kapke sank a layup, Payne hit a three, and Chase Forte followed with an and-one layup to tie the game at 47 with 10:35 to go.
Jayden Hastings missed a putback attempt at the rim with about nine minutes remaining, and Pittsburgh responded with a three on the other end to gain a six-point lead. The Panthers made just two shots from behind the arc in the first half but finished 7 of 22 from deep.
But once again, Payne responded with a four-point play on the other end, and the lead was back to two. A few minutes later, he hit a baseline jumper right in front of BC’s bench to tie the game 57–57.
“I knew I had to turn it on,” Payne said. “I know I’m a scorer now, so just, second-half mindset, get to the rack, get a couple easy ones, get the guys involved so I can be open.”
Forte hit a three from the right side, right in front of the sideline full of rowdy BC students, to tie the game at 62. The game was tied six times.
Pittsburgh called a timeout with 53 seconds left. The play the Panthers drew up ended in a miss, and their missed layups from the first half came back to haunt them. They got an offensive rebound but missed the putback, and BC called a timeout.
Grant said the play was intended for Kapke, who sank the three to win the game for BC.
“Now that we’ve been together, and we’ve been through some adversity and some successes, we’re starting to learn from those things,” Grant said. “We’re getting closer as a team, and we’re starting to understand what we’re trying to do offensively and executing a little bit better and then playing tough on defense.”
