Last year, BC finished the season one game under. 500.
It was the early season non-conference games that gave them unexpected trouble and ultimately probably cost them a shot at a tournament berth and most definitely cost them a shot at the NIT at the very least.
A few weeks ago, Earl Grant emphasized how important those games would be this season as the Eagles look to make a leap forward. His team heard the message loud and clear in the opener on Monday night, hammering Fairfield 89-70.
Quinten Post led the way with 31 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks.Jaeden Zackery added 10 points while Devin McGlockton, Mason Madsen and Donald Hand Jr. all chipped in nine.
Everyone got some action in this one, another important piece of BC's growth early this season.
"I played a lot of guys. Obviously, you want to win, but you've also got to grow and develop your team," Grant said postgame. "I thought for the most part, 32 minutes of that game we were really good. Then, there were a couple patches where we need to be better taking care of the ball and shrinking our defense back, not making it so easy. Those are things we can correct."
Two Claudell Harris free throws put BC up by nine less than 10 minutes in and a Post dunk moments later made it a 21-8 lead early. A jumper by Zackery with 9:33 left in the half made it 29-15 and the cushion grew to 36-18 on a Madsen three with about seven minutes left. Late in the half a three from Hand Jr. pushed it to 42-24, but Fairfield hung around at halftime, cutting it to 46-34.
The game was never truly in doubt though, and BC made sure there would be no ugly start in this season opener with a 24-10 run at the start of the second half, quickly bumping the lead to 70-44 on a Harris free throw.
Post surprisingly stayed in the game until late, grabbing a block and and rebound at the 3:28 and 3:24 marks before eventually come out.Overall, Post had that dominant performance fans should expect to see regularly from the team's best option ans as a whole, it was a nice start for a team that's going to only get better with time.
"Great win," said Post. The first one you need to get. Everyone was a little nervous, I was a little nervous even though it;'s my fifth year. First game jitters kind of. We're happy just to come out strong. I think we've got to clean some things up. Sometimes we played a little too fast, we could have slowed the game down and be in control.
"Overall, great team win. Got to improve the defense a little bit, but we're happy with the result."
- EDGE
- ATH
- TE
- OT
- OT
- QB
- EDGE
- QB
- ATH
- DE