CHESTNUT HILL – The Boston College men’s basketball team closed out a disastrous three-game homestand with an 86-75 loss to California in a Saturday matinee match at Conte Forum.
BC (9-16, 2-11) dropped the first two games of the homestand to Miami and Stanford by a combined 11 points. BC squandered a favorable stretch of games at a pivotal point in the season when teams are jockeying for position in the run up to the ACC tournament. BC resumes league play on Tuesday night at Florida State.
“We saw the games, we know what happened,” said BC head coach Earl Grant. “We had opportunities to win but they made a few more shots than we did and that’s pretty simple. Today it just took us a while to get going.”
The Golden Bears (18-8, 5-7) arrived in Boston after a grueling 107-100 double overtime loss at Syracuse. Cal returns home to begin a three-game home stand against Stanford on Feb. 21.
“Our game plan coming in, and I’ll start with the offensive side of the ball, was that we had to move the basketball,” said Cal head coach Mark Madsen. “When we move the basketball, we are very difficult to guard.
“We have a full week to look at the things we did well on both sides of the ball and the things that need to be addressed.”
The Eagles put up decent numbers without their best player Donald Hand jr., who suffered a knee injury in the first half against Stanford. BC shot 35.7% from the floor with eight made 3-point shots, a 35-25 advantage on the boards with 13 assists and 12 turnovers. BC scored 34 points in the paint with 22 second chance points and outscored Cal 47-43 in the second half. Fred Payne netted 16 points to lead four BC players in double figures.
“Without Donald Hand, I thought it took us a while to get going in the first half with some offensive flow,” said Grant. “His health is the most important thing and he has a long career ahead of him so you never want to rush a guy back.
“It was the first game in three years that he wasn’t available to play.”
Senior forward Chris Bell scored 22 points to pace Cal’s offense. The Golden Bears shot 53.6% from the floor with a staggering 14 made 3-points shots and an equally impressive 18-to-8 assist to turnover ratio.
“You have to give California credit, they hit 14 threes and it is hard to do that,” said Grant. “You can defend them great and they can get open, but making 14 three-point shots is not an easy thing to do.”
Both teams got off to sloppy starts, accentuated by poor shot selection and turnovers. Guard Dai Dai Ames accounted for six of Cal’s eight points (8-4) at the first media timeout. The Golden Bears began imposing their will after the timeout, scoring seven unanswered points to go up 15-4 with 12:48 to play.
BC cut the lead back to 15-11 on a buzzer beater trey by Luka Toews with 11:16 on the clock. Cal sophomore center Mantas Kocanas buried a 3-ball from the top of the key to put the Bears up 27-17 at the third media timeout.
Cal senior forward Chris Bell followed a layup with three made 3-point shots to give Cal a 38-23 lead at the final media timeout. Cal went up 43-23 on a 3-ball from off the key by forward John Camden, which prompted Grant to call timeout. The Berkeley Boyz led 43-28 at the break.
“It showed how much confidence he (Bell) has in his game,” said Madsen. “Every time he shoots it, he thinks it is going in and it had a huge impact on the game. That game was back and forth and that stretch gave us a buffer.”
Bell picked up where he left off at the start of the second half with a pair from downtown that put Cal up 52-35 with 17:11 to play in the game.
BC guard Chase Forte found his range from downtown and at the free throw line to cut Cal’s lead, 66-55, with 8:06 to play. The Bears regrouped with consecutive baseline drives by TT Carr and Bell to make it 70-55 at the third media timeout. Cal led 77-64 at the final media timeout. Bell’s sixth trifecta upped Cal’s lead to 80-61 with 3:13 remaining to put the game away.
“I was proud of our guys for making the plays late and winning a road game in a tough environment here at Boston College,” said Madsen.
