Boston College 79, Dartmouth 58: Eagles End 2012 With Blowout Win

Last night, the Boston College hockey team could not finish 2012 in style, but the basketball team did.

On New Year’s Eve Monday afternoon at Conte Forum, the Boston College Eagles defeated the Ivy League’s Dartmouth Big Green, 79-58. For the Eagles, it is their fifth win in a row and it gives them a final record in non-conference play of 8-5.

Boston College got off to a slow start, falling behind 9-3 in the early going, but the Eagles heated up as one of their freshman guards did. His name? Joe Rahon. He only took eight shots in the entire game, but six were three-pointers — Rahon made them all from long-range, and all but one overall. He added a perfect day at the free throw line to his total, giving him a career-high 24 points.

The second most-prolific scorer for the Eagles was another freshman guard, Olivier Hanlan. The Canadian standout had 15 points and seven rebounds. As a matter of fact, all five BC starters were in double-figures in points: Ryan Anderson and Lonnie Jackson both had 12, and Patrick Heckmann posted ten points. BC netted only six points off the bench, but key players like Dennis Clifford got significantly reduced minutes. Clifford is still being eased back into play after an injury set him back by weeks earlier in the season.

Boston College shot 48% from the floor against the Big Green, including 12 three-pointers, and made all but one of their 14 free throw attempts to cap off an all-around solid offensive afternoon. The Eagles were the better team and it showed for most of the way, though the game had an inauspicious start for the home team. Nevertheless, were it not for Steve Donahue emptying the bench in the final few minutes, the Eagles could have easily won the game by a margin of 30 points or more. Such was the breadth of their domination of Dartmouth on Monday.

Conference play begins next weekend with a pivotal game against a ranked NC State team. BC heads into the ACC with an 8-5 record, much improved from their disappointing 5-9 mark last season.

It is impossible to read too much into a win over Dartmouth, except to say that the freshman guards are legitimate talents and that BC is riding a wave of momentum.