Boston College 75, Sacred Heart 67: Eagles Overcome Pioneers in Overtime

Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports

On Tuesday night at Conte Forum, the Boston College Eagles defeated the Sacred Heart Pioneers in their men’s basketball game, 75-67 in overtime.

With the win, the Eagles have emerged victorious in back-to-back games for the first time this season, improving to 3-4 on the year. This is also Boston College’s second home win of the campaign.

Boston College trailed for a majority of regulation, falling behind Sacred Heart by as many as eleven points in the first half, ultimately cutting the halftime gap to seven. The Eagles came out of the locker room on a quick run and would soon thereafter take the lead, though the contest then went back and forth until a tie was forced at the end of forty minutes. Boston College would go on to dominate the overtime period, which was spent mostly at the free throw line.

Ryan Anderson of the Eagles led all scorers with 28 points and eleven rebounds for a double-double. Joe Rahon notched 19 coming off of a strong performance against Washington and Olivier Hanlan scored 15 for Boston College. Chris Evans led the Pioneers with 18 points.

Boston College’s three-point shooting was dreadful for most of the game, with the team going 5-for-23 (21.7%) while Sacred Heart made their first six from deep in a row. The Pioneers eventually started missing their shots, though the Eagles’ defense was highly problematic once again throughout much the game.

Optimistically, it was a win for Boston College who will certainly take whatever they can get to right the ship. There would have been virtually no realistic path to an at-large bid with a loss like this on the resume, but they found a way to win. Several things, however, have been concerning:

• The lack of urgency exhibited by the Eagles in the first half. In the laziest first half they’ve played all season, the Eagles appeared to be going through the motions while the Pioneers stretched out to a big early lead. It was accounted for later, but this is not the first time they have played listless basketball.
• The fact that save for the Washington game, Boston College has struggled in six of their seven contests. Washington last Friday was the closest the Eagles have come to putting together a half-way competent game, while the rest have all been mediocre efforts at best. Sacred Heart is not a good team and yet the Eagles still had to scratch and claw their way back on the own court.
• The defense probably is what it is at this point. It’s just not going to be reliable. Also, stating the painfully obvious, if the Eagles’ threes aren’t falling, they will struggle to win games.

This team will take the win, but at some point, they have to start getting better or they’re March roadkill. At 3-4 they have a pulse, which is key to point out, but they’re still dancing close to disaster territory and need to find another gear.

Boston College will take a break for Thanksgiving and return to the hardwood on December 4 for their ACC-Big Ten Challenge matchup at Purdue.