Recap: Boston College loses to Central Connecticut, 60-59

The Boston College Eagles lost their second game of the season on Tuesday night, losing to the CCSU Blue Devils by a score of 60-59. 

The Eagles came out hot and cruised to an early 10-2 lead thanks to a pair of dunks by Jayden Hastings and getting to the line early. It was obvious they wanted to come out physical. CCSU couldn’t get anything going at the start, but eventually settled in with back to back threes and never allowed BC to pull away. The Eagles struggled on their end by missing their first six three point attempts. On top of the missed three’s, they were plagued by unlucky bounces on the rim despite the decent looks. 

BC led 14-10 and their defense began suffocating the Blue Devils in the paint. However, the Eagles stalled offensively as well, with neither team scoring for nearly three and half minutes. CCSU took it to the air and began making their jumpers, their only source of scoring during the last seven minutes of the half. The Eagles responded with jumpers of their own and closed the half with back to back three’s before taking a 30-26 lead. Both teams shot 32% from the field during the first half and couldn’t find much consistent scoring. 

The second half started out similar to the first half with the Eagles scoring five quick points by Fred Payne, who knocked down a three and a layup. Max Frazier of the Blue Devils responded with a drunk, but soon Donald Hand and Aidan Shaw traded baskets of their own and the Eagles led 39-28, and it looked as though BC was starting to figure out the Blue Devils defense. 

Jayden Hastings came up strong during this point in the game by pulling down offensive rebounds. His contributions on the glass allowed for more opportunities for the Eagles, but they couldn’t capitalize on all of them. BC led 45-35 with 13:48 left and needed one knockout blow to send the Blue Devils packing. The Blue Devils prevailed, and fought their way back into the game thanks to a pair of threes by Melo Sanchez and a layup from Elijah Parker. Just when it looked like the Eagles were ready to build momentum, CCSU responded perfectly, especially on defense. The Eagles offense began sputtering and allowed the Blue Devils to capitalize on both ends of the floor. They took a 55-54 lead with 6:45 to go, where it stayed until Fred Payne snapped the Eagles cold streak with a layup, and gave BC the lead back, 56-55. 

CCSU’s defense continued to tighten up as time dwindled down. The Eagles truly had to earn their points, and Fred Payne came up big with another go ahead basket plus the and-one with 2:02 to go. BC led 59-58 during the final minute of the game and a clutch block by Jayden Hastings with 49 seconds left built some momentum for the Eagles. However, CCSU’s Darin Smith Jr had plans of his own and scored a go-ahead contested layup with 3 seconds left in the game. Donald Hand Jr attempted one last final jumper but to no avail, where the Blue Devils escaped with a 60-59 win on the road. 

Fred Payne led the Eagles in scoring with 17 points on 6-14 shooting. Donald Hand Jr added 11 points, on a night where he struggled and went 5-19 from the field. Jayden Hastings added 8 points and 5 offensive rebounds on 3-4 shooting. Overall, the Eagles shot an abysmal 32.8% from the field and 7-34 from deep. 

Up next, Boston College will travel on the road to Temple this Saturday, November 15. Tip off begins at 2:00 pm ET.