In the first half, the Boston College Eagles had us thinking it was Yale, The Sequel.
This game against Bucknell, however, ended the way I think most of us hoped that one would: with the Eagles fighting back and taking a close win at home. Boston College won their seventh straight game by taking down the Bison 84-80, in a game where the Eagles fell behind by 16 points early on and let Bucknell bomb threes all night. The Eagles' perimeter defense was lifeless and uncontested three-pointers ballooned the Bucknell lead. Unlike the Yale game, however, Boston College fought back at a much earlier point in the night and started to contest shots. As soon as that happened, the deficit began to slim until eventually, in the second half, it was gone.
Big shots were hit tonight by Reggie Jackson, Biko Paris, and Josh Southern -- some behind the line, some under the hoop, and some at the stripe. Reggie led the Eagles with 22, but the game's leading scorer was Bucknell's Bryson Johnson with 23 (21 of those on the three). Three other Eagles made it to double figures: Joe Trapani and Josh Southern (16) and Biko Paris (14).
It was an ugly win for sure, and had the feel of a WTF loss, but the Eagles persevered. Even though it looked like the game was getting away from them early, they ratcheted up the intensity on both sides of the ball and made sure this one didn't get away. There will be plenty of lessons to be learned from this game but I would think it will be good for their confidence: they fell behind by a large margin but still found a way to win, which is ultimately what matters most. If this win wasn't satisfactory enough, remember that it could be worse: this wasn't the Yale game, Virginia lost a cupcake game to Seattle, and Georgia Tech fell to Siena. At least this one is in the win column.
BC is now a 10-2 basketball team and are going to take the week off for Christmas before heading to Kingston, Rhode Island on December 29.
In a way I disagree that it was ugly. I dare say it wouldn't be a traditional WTF loss. Bucknell was tough. Not sure how they're only 6-6, but they had some players. Our Defense could have been better but it didn't appear like we were being lazy. At the 10 min mark, they had 31.... pace for 124! Bryson Johnson... that guy was a stud. We had to work hard for this win. Luckily we did. Proud of the Eagles tonight.
ReplyDeleteI see what you're saying. It wasn't always ugly but it was ugly for a stretch; BC's defense in the first 12 minutes was incomprehensibly bad (regardless of how talented Bucknell might be). The bottom line though is that they won, and they should be quite pleased with it. Coming back from 16 down to win is not an easy task.
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