Boston College men’s basketball suffered its eighth straight loss on Saturday afternoon. As the losses mount up, the Eagles’ path to the ACC Tournament has only gotten harder.
Southern Methodist (19–8, 8–6 Atlantic Coast) beat the Eagles 94–70, and, like in many of BC’s (9–18, 2–12) losses this season, the game started out relatively competitive.
Despite being unable to get much going in the paint, the Eagles were creating three-point opportunities. Three-pointers from Boden Kapke, Fred Payne, Luka Toews, and Chase Forte helped the Eagles stick with SMU, and the game was tied 17–17 with 10:48 left in the first half.
Payne ended with a game-high 20 points.
“I think the three-point shot is a weapon, something that we could utilize,” BC head coach Earl Grant said.
The Eagles kept up as the first half continued, and even grabbed a lead. Thanks mostly to their continued ability to hit threes, the Eagles found themselves up 36–29 with 2:45 left to go in the half.
The seven-point lead would be the Eagles’ largest of the game.
“I thought we controlled the game to start,” Grant said. “We kept the crowd out of it. And 2:30 left in the first half, they made a big three, kind of got them on a run.”
That 3-pointer, which came from SMU’s B.J. Edwards, kick-started a shift in the Eagles’ fortunes.
The end of the first half saw a buzzer-beater three that put the Mustangs up 40–36. From there, their lead would only grow.
“I thought their zone [defense] in the start of the second half stymied us,” Grant said. “We usually get excited when we see a zone—we didn’t get excited today. It stymied us. We missed some stuff at the rim. We missed a couple of threes.”
Outscored by the Mustangs 12–6 in about five minutes, the Eagles fell to a 52–42 deficit. BC proved unable to stop the bleeding, and the Mustangs went up 68–52 with 10:04 to play.
“[SMU’s momentum] kind of carried over to the second half, where those seven minutes—starting with that three, and then the first four minutes in the second half—I thought they made a big run,” Grant said. “And we let the crowd get really excited … Then the game got away from us.”
Falling apart in the second half has become something of a recurring pattern this season for BC basketball, but Saturday’s collapse seemed to be more sudden and crushing than others have been.
The Eagles were down 73–52 with 8:44 left as their defense, which has been one of the brighter spots in a dismal season, fell apart, and SMU seemed to put up points with ease. The deflated Eagles gave up 21 more points by the end, ultimately falling 94–70.
