Another close game, another close loss for the Boston College Eagles. Today's game continued to highlight some of the problems this team has had all season. They had stretches where they played solid basketball, and they had a more than 10 minute stretch in the first half where they couldn't hit a bucket. It certainly was one of the uglier games of the season, and was a very difficult game to watch.
BC started the game off playing well, jumping out to 16-11 lead with twelve minutes to go in the first half. Then everything went ice cold. BC only hit one more bucket for the remainder of the half, and turned the ball over eight times during that span. Fortunately, due to a Lonnie Jackson last second three pointer they went into the locker room only down one. Don't even want to think what would happen if BC has one of these streaks against a team like Duke or FSU.
The second half started with more mental errors for BC. After trading three pointers with Georgia Tech, Dennis Clifford picked up two quick fouls that forced him to sit for most of the second half. During that time GT dominated inside, while KC Caudill struggled both on the offensive and defensive end of the floor. Tech started to heat up with some good interior play by Daniel Miller (10 points) and Kammeon Holsey (10 points) who were left alone under the basket on numerous plays.
The Eagles cut the lead to one in the final three minutes of the game of the game after Ryan Anderson hit a big three pointer, but Glen Rice Jr. quickly responded to stretch the lead back to three. BC had time for one last shot, and the best play they came up with was Lonnie Jackson shooting a 40 foot three pointer which missed badly. GT hit their FTs to wrap up the win for the Yellow Jackets.
With a game high 15 points, Matt Humphrey kept BC in the game, both on the offensive and defensive end of the floor. He showed that veteran leadership that BC sorely needed in a game that could have easily have slipped away from the Eagles. He hustled for loose balls, made aggressive cuts in the lane and made key shots in big situations. This was easily Humphrey's best game in the maroon and gold.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record BC struggled in the same areas that they have all season. They made far too many turnovers (14), went through long stretches without hitting a shot, and tired out down the stretch. Lonnie Jackson hit some big threes, Jordan Daniels was a pesky defender (3 steals), and Ryan Anderson did a solid job on the glass (11 rebounds)
The Eagles' will try to get back in the win column on Wednesday, when they host Florida State at Conte Forum.