The BC Eagles Men’s Basketball team lost to the Umass Minutemen on Wednesday night, falling 76-74 in the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic.
The Eagles won the tip of the game but set an illegal screen on the very first possession. The early turnover was a foreshadowing in how the first half would unfold. Luckily Fred Payne beat the shot clock in a last second three pointer on the next possession, but this would be the team’s only made field goal for nearly four minutes.
What plagued the Eagles in the first half was their shot selection and turnovers. They started out the game 2-10 from three and 3-16 overall in the first ten minutes of the game, and struggled to find any offensive rhythm. UMass began pushing the tempo, largely from Marcus Banks Jr, whom the Eagles had trouble containing in the first half. With 7:50 to go in the half it was 19-14 UMass.
While the Eagles struggled on offense they did make key defensive plays which prevented the game from getting too out of hand. The Minutemen weren’t exactly sharp themselves offensively, but they did find ways to score. By about the 6:00 mark the Eagles put the ball more inside and drew fouls, going 9-9 from the charity stripe.
UMass played with more intensity to close out the first half and took advantage of Eagles turnovers. They took a 35-33 lead in the first half with an A+ defensive performance on Donald Hand Jr, who was held scoreless throughout the first.
The second half of the game couldn’t have started out more disastrous for the Eagles. The team went on a serious scoring drought and did not record a made FG for 6:30 in the quarter, which allowed UMass to jump ahead to a 54-40 lead. Just when it looked like they were ready to bow out, Earl Grant called a timeout to stop the Minutemen momentum.
Following the timeout, the Eagles soared back and went on a 21-2 run. Donald Hand Jr. began to hit shots and led BC on their impressive run, along with solid contributions from Boden Kapke and Jason Asemota. However, a questionable foul call on Kapke led to him being called for a tech, which gave UMass life. Boston College led 63-56 with 5:00 to go.
The momentum swing is exactly what the Minutemen needed as they fought their way back offensively from the likes of Banks Jr and Leonardo Bettiol. It was 66-65 Eagles with 3:25 left, but BC picked up a second tech due to a taunting call from Jason Asemota.
By this point, it was anyone’s game. Chase Forte drew fouls and shot 6-6 from the line in this timespan. Hand Jr. made a sensational contested layup to tie the game at 74-74. UMass could not respond, and Forte drew another foul with 14.4 seconds to go, but missed both. On the other end, UMass put the game in the hands of Banks Jr, and drew enough contact to get to the line with 5 seconds to go — where he made both of his attempts. Forte was unable to make the buzzer beater for BC, where they left Springfield with a loss and now sit at 5-6.
Donald Hand led the Eagles scorers with 18 points. Boden Kapke and Chase Forte added 12 each. The team as a whole shot 22-29 from the FT line. One storyline to keep an eye on is whether the Eagles can close these close games out.
Up next, Boston College hosts Fairleigh Dickinson on December 22nd.
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