BC 66, Stony Brook 51: Huge Eagle Run Sinks Seawolves

Against Providence, many suspected this young BC team was visibly improving. Now we’re sure of it.

On Sunday evening, Boston College defeated the Stony Brook Seawolves, 66-51, at Conte Forum. The win was the Eagles’ third of the 2011-12 season. It is the Eagles’ first double-digit win of the year.

The first few minutes of the game were very sloppy for both teams, but Boston College eventually snapped out of it; Stony Brook did not (before the half, anyway).

The Eagles, originally down 11-6, ended the first half on a 22-0 run to bring a 28-11 lead into the half.

As for Stony Brook, I’m not sure I’ve seen a more dreadful offensive performance in a half in my life than I saw from them. They shot 15.6% from the floor and made the Eagles look like the Celtics by comparison. In fact, the Seawolves went about 12 minutes without a basket or a free throw.  In regards to all this:

"The 11 points by the Seawolves are the fewest in a half in Conte Forum history."

In the second half, Stony Brook shot much, much better, though still was too deep in the hole to be able to come back.

Jordan Daniels started again and played virtually the entire game, and on the offensive end of the floor, he did a fine job. Daniels ended up with 12 points and eight rebounds (despite his short stature); only Patrick Heckmann had more points with 18, and he tied Ryan Anderson in rebounds. Further, the offense continued to work in the same sort of rhythm they had against Providence, leading them to shoot 48% from the field.

It’s not an accident that this happened, as again, Coach Donahue cut down on the rotations and gave most of his starters big minutes. The only one of the five starters who did not get a minimum of 31 minutes was Ryan Anderson, who got 23. Heckmann played 21 off the bench, while John Cahill played thirteen relatively quiet minutes, Kyle Caudill had seven, and Gabe Moton only played a minute. So long as Donahue keeps managing personnel like this, rather than doing the hockey-esque line changes as he was in the very beginning, we should continue to see more consistency and chemistry on the court. The result won’t always be winning, but it may be a better overall product.

Also of note, Boston College won the rebounding battle, 36-24. They allowed six offensive rebounds in the earlier parts of the game, but only one the rest of the way, and cleaned up on the defensive glass as Stony Brook couldn’t buy a basket for the vast majority of the first half.

The Eagles turned it over far too many times at 17, and many of them were careless mistakes. Limiting the dumb turnovers and keeping their heads in the game will continue to be a point of emphasis for Donahue.

Yes, it’s Stony Brook, but it’s a win, and a 22-0 run is always fun to see when you’re the side benefitting from it. Boston College played reasonably well against Providence, and continued playing well in rewarding themselves with a win here. As BC players, you absolutely must take it and try to build more confidence, and as fans, we should be pleased with what we witnessed. Earlier in this young season, some said the Eagles were “getting better with every game.” In some areas, perhaps, but whatever improvements they made often did not transfer from game to game. In the past two games, however, Boston College has unequivocally gotten better, and though still very imperfect, they are closer to getting where they want to go than they were even a week ago.

The Eagles will take a week off, presumably for finals, and come back next Sunday against Bryant.