Boston College Men’s Basketball Defeats Harvard, 73-60

Boston College beat Harvard this evening, winning 73-60.

BC’s offense was humming in the first half. Fred Payne, especially, was on fire; he hit 3s in the half and hit some tough off-the-dribble jumpers as well. Forte and Hand both hit a first-half 3, as did Aidan Shaw. BC was able to build a nice 5-point lead by the second media timeout, before really hitting their stride and pushing the lead to as much as 13 midway through the first half. Shaw had a strong half; in addition to his made 3 he also had a couple of assists and two blocks as well. Harvard eventually switched into a zone defense with around seven minutes to play in the half. BC’s starting lineup struggled to generate open looks, moving the ball east to west and settling for some bad 3s without getting any dribble penetration. On the other end, Harvard finally got some of their looks to go – a layup from Chandler Pigge with 1:10 to play in the half cut the lead to 8 and it would remain there til halftime.

Harvard cut the lead to as little as four in the opening minutes of the second half. BC was, again, settling for poor shots on the offensive glass and committing unnecessary turnovers to keep Harvard in the game. It was first Donald Hand, then Caleb Steger, who kickstarted the Eagles’ offense into gear. Hand hit back-to-back 3s (possibly for the first time all season?) He looked more comfortable tonight, generally letting the offense come to him rather than forcing bad shots from behind the arc. Then Steger – who saw no minutes in the first half – came in and drilled three straight threes right in front of the home bench. Grant played some extended 4-guard lineups in the second half with Shaw on the bench and Asemota still suspended, with Hand or Radunovic at the 4. Boston College went on to win comfortably, 73-60.