Toledo 95, Boston College 92: Eagles Melt Down In Loss to Rockets

Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports

Despite holding an eight-point lead with 3:20 to go in the game, the Boston College Eagles were defeated on Thursday night by the Toledo Rockets, 95-92.

With this loss, coming in the home opener at Conte Forum, Boston College falls to 0-3 on the season. The Rockets ended the game on 19-8 run over the final 200 seconds of regulation.

Boston College has led all three of their contests at halftime, going on to lose all three. At halftime of the Toledo contest, the Eagles had 48 points in the bank and, despite some defensive woes, looked like they could keep ahead of the Rockets. The lead briefly touched double-digits early in the half before Toledo stormed back and kept the score respectable until muscling their way past the Eagles for good with 55 seconds to go.

The Eagles’ defeat was in large part due to defensive breakdowns and offensive miscues, making bad plays at inopportune times and, as a fellow blogger put it, looking lost. Boston College shot 51 percent for the game, but the Rockets shot 57 percent. The Eagles took 23 three-pointers and made just seven. Boston College allowed Toledo to score 55 points in the second half, continuing a highly concerning pattern of late-game difficulties which has already emerged.

There is to be no sugar-coating it, denying it, or excusing it: the start to the season for the Boston College Eagles has been a disastrous one, and it does not get much worse than blowing a comfortable lead at home with a few minutes to play. This was an unacceptable performance by the Eagles.

Proclaiming that Providence, UMass, and Toledo are on some level “good” does nothing. For one thing, none are world-beaters so that term is highly relative, but more importantly, Boston College is going to have to beat decent teams eventually if they plan on doing anything constructive this season. So far, they are 0-for-3.

Towards the end of the game, it may not have been that they played scared, since none of us can make that determination, but they most certainly played stupid basketball. It was a choke, plain and simple, and was absolutely unbecoming of a team that intended to take a step forward this year. A few more early games like this and they won’t be able to dig out of the hole they’re creating around their feet.

Once is a fluke and twice is a coincidence, but three times is a trend. It is fair to say that the Eagles have major problems right now and things are going to get desperate around here fairly quickly.

The Eagles will again seek their first win on Sunday night at home against Florida Atlantic.