On Saturday afternoon, the BC men’s basketball team faced off against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in Atlanta to open the ACC portion of the Eagles’ schedule. It was back-and-forth affair and a defensive slugfest at times, eventually ending with a GT flurry of made shots and a 65-53 victory for the Yellow Jackets.
Things got off to a slow start on offense for both teams, featuring a slew of missed shots and fouls for the Eagles and some bad turnovers for Georgia Tech. Donald Hand started the game
shooting 1/6 and Luka Toews wasn’t doing much better. Without the jumpshots falling, the Yellow Jackets had an opportunity to build an early lead. A Caleb Steger three-pointer gave BC a 15-15 tie, but for the next 7 minutes the Eagles could only score 2 points. GT’s lead grew to 10 before finally a last gasp of offense by Boden Kapke and others in the paint brought BC back to within 3 points by halftime.
The Eagles went toe-to-toe with their opponents for much of the second half, with Kapke leading the way. His 13 points mostly came near the basket, and his 11 rebounds, 3 steals and 1 block helped out BC on the other end of the floor, too. Donald Hand couldn’t get any of his shots to fall from the field, but he was getting to the free throw line and made 8/12 foul shots that provided some sort of momentum when the BC offense needed it.
For the Yellow Jackets, it was Lamar Washington who kept things steady. His 17 points were a game high, and his timely three-pointers came up huge for a GT team that does not excel at shooting behind the arc. After BC claimed a 46-42 lead late in the game, Washington led the way alongside Kowacie Reeves Jr. to go on a 20-3 scoring run that closed out the contest. BC looked helpless as they turned the ball over, missed several jumpshots, and kept fouling Georgia tech players on their way to the rim. The promising late lead escaped just as quickly as it had formed, and Boston College fell in their ACC opener, 65-53.
Next up, the Eagles will face the NC State Wolfpack at Conte Forum on January 6th.
