BC Notches Gritty Win Over Stonehill

Losers of four straight heading into a should-be-easy game against Stonehill at Conte Forum on Tuesday night, the Eagles didn’t make it as easy as it should have been on paper, but still came out with a 63-56 victory over the Skyhawks.

The Eagles get to .500 at 6-6 to close out all non-conference play and will see nothing but ACC opponents the rest of the way.

Jaeden Zackery scored 16 points, CJ Penha Jr. added 15. As a team, Boston College shot 42% overall and forced 17 turnovers, which is arguably the most important stat of the night. Following the loss to Villanova, head coach Earl Grant talked about defensive effort and rebounding being the identity of the team no matter how many new faces he might have out on the floor at a given time. The three point shooting still wasn’t great overall (5-for-16), but both Zackery and Penha combined to hit those five. Zackery also had three steals and three assists. BC also shot 73% from the free throw line, but barely won the turnover battle 17-14.

If not for a big 21-10 run to close out the half, the story might’ve been quite different. That run allowed BC to grab a 35-26 lead at the break. T.J. Bickerstaff scored five of his seven points in the opening minutes of the second half to help push the lead to 48-37, but Stonehill certainly didn’t go away quietly.

Thanks in large part to 20 points from Andrew Sims, things got dicey with about two minutes left when Stonehill cut it to four, but the Eagles were able to hold off the run from the Skyhawks and head into league play with an important victory, no matter who the opponent was. It was the defense down the stretch in particular that got it done. Zackery hit a three with two minutes left to make it 35-23, but BC didn’t score again.

Stonehill had its opportunities, but some strong rebounding from Demarr Langford Jr. and Penha saved BC as Stonehill went cold late.

This was the first time these two programs met since 1984 - a BC win - and the dominance in the series has continued ever since. The win on Tuesday night was the 16th straight for BC over Stonehill. The rivalry actually goes all the way back to 1951, but it’s been all Eagles.

“It’s hard to win,” Grant told his team postgame. “It’s hard to win, we should know that by now. The end of the non-conference schedule, we ended it the right way. We were close to our identity. That was our one goal, to be close to our identity. If you really think about it with our team, we’ve got some more guys that can do more.

“That means we’ve got a lot of room to grow. Our minds need to stay focused on the right stuff.”

The Eagles now have a week to get ready for a massive home game against Virginia Tech, currently ranked No. 24 in the country. Tip off will be 6:30 and the game is on ACC Network.