Every time Boston College men’s basketball started to build momentum Monday night, Albany forward De’Vondre Perry answered. The 6-foot-7 Temple grad transfer ignited a 7-0 Great Danes run early in the first half that handed Albany the lead for much of the period.
When the Danes finally went down, he used a hesitation move to set up a 3-pointer over BC center Quinten Post and then backed down Jaeden Zackery in the post before sinking a fadeaway jumper. It was the beginning of a 15-4 stretch that gave Albany a nine-point advantage at the break.
It was like clock work. Perry always had a response.
His grand finale was rejecting BC’s late comeback bid. Perry swatted Zackery’s layup attempt with under 30 seconds to go and Albany maintaining a 61-57 lead. The Eagles didn’t get back on the board, and the Danes strung together their second straight win with an upset victory in Conte Forum.
“He’s a good player,” BC head coach Earl Grant said of Perry postgame. “He hurt us. He really hurt us with some crucial baskets from 15 feet and in.”
Perry was also 2-of-3 from beyond the arc. He finished with a game-high 16 points. He was one of just two Danes to turn in a double-digit scoring effort. The other was fellow grad transfer Matt Cerruti, who cashed in 4-of-7 triples, including three in the first half.
Albany (3-7) shot 46.3% from the floor and 8-of-16 from deep. Meanwhile, the Eagles (6-5, 1-0 ACC) hovered around the 39% mark and continued to struggle from outside. What kept BC afloat was its 15-rebound advantage and 20 second-chance points.
The teams traded blows in the opening minutes, with Zackery tying the game at 9-9 with the first of his three 3-pointers. After Bucknell transfer Paul Newman made back-to-back buckets inside, BC scored eight straight points, courtesy of a pair of treys from Zackery and center James Karnik.
Perry regained the lead for Albany, and Cerruti gave the Danes a cushion going into the half. A floater and two 3-pointers did the trick. And Albany entered intermission with a 35-26 advantage.
“I thought they played a lot harder than us in the first half,” Grant said. “They just looked like a more determined team.”
The Eagles came out swinging in the second half, during which they shot an improved 41.4% from the floor and turned the ball over only five times, as opposed to eight in the opening 20 minutes.
BC kickstarted the period with a 16-4 run. The Langford brothers accounted for nine of those points. Makai Ashton-Langford hit his lone 3-pointer of the game, and DeMarr Langford Jr. converted a couple jumpers, in addition to blowing by Albany guard Chuck Champion for an athletic finish at the cup.
The surge put the Eagles up, 41-39, just about midway through the back half of play.
That was Perry’s cue. He delivered a beautiful pass to a cutting Trey Hutcheson for a critical basket. Soon after, he crossed over his defender and spotted up for a 3-pointer. When all was said and done, Albany scored 15 of the next 18 points, staking itself to a 54-44 lead.
BC, however, didn’t bow out. Instead, the Eagles cut their deficit to two. Ashton-Langford converted an and-one opportunity, and then Zackery drilled a 3-pointer before tacking on a pair of free throws.
Zackery kept the game within one possession by following up a Perry jumper with a layup and then, soon after, lobbing an inbound pass for Post.
Trailing, 58-56, BC needed one last stop. The shot clock wound down, and Albany guard Jamel Horton launched a 3-pointer over the outstretched arm of Post, a 7-footer.
BC proceeded to go 1-of-3 at the free throw line down the stretch and, despite forcing a couple Danes turnovers with a full-court press, couldn’t translate those opportunities into points.
The Eagles lost for the first time at home this season. And it was a “buy game” to an Albany team that squeaked by Columbia, in addition to losing to Yale and Harvard.
The Danes had never beaten an ACC opponent before.
“We lost the game,” Grant said. “It sucks. It’s humbling.
“But that’s what this game does to you. It’s a humbling game.”
