During the offseason, Boston College men’s basketball head coach Earl Grant said this year’s team was his best shooting squad during his time at Boston College. Despite early season shooting struggles, BC men’s basketball showed why Grant might have said on Wednesday.
Six different BC (4–4) players hit 3-pointers en route to a 73–60 win over Harvard. In total, the Eagles shot 12-of-30 from deep, setting a season high in made threes.
“We trust each other,” senior forward Aidan Shaw said. “Every game is a super bowl. [The goal] is to just come out with a win.”
Fred Payne was one of nine Eagles to score. He led BC with 17 points on 7-for-12 shooting, including a 3-of-6 mark from three. It was Payne’s sixth straight game putting up double digits.
“I let the game come to me,” Payne said. “I’m a younger guy, but I’m a vet … I just accept the role.”
BC also played strong defense. The Eagles forced 10 turnovers and blocked six shots without fouling, as Harvard went to the free-throw line just three times.
“The whole team just really locked in,” Shaw said. “We knew our personnel going into it. We really focused on knowing the weak side—that’s something I really pride myself on.”
The Eagles came out firing, starting 4-of-5 from 3-point range, including two deep balls from Payne. A jumper from Boden Kapke gave the Eagles an 18–9 lead with 13:32 left in the half as they clicked on both sides of the ball.
“We took open shots,” BC head coach Earl Grant said. “We weren’t forcing shots, and we were being very unselfish.”
The Eagles suffered a short scoring drought during which they put up just two points in four minutes, briefly flashing the offensive stagnancy that plagued them in Charleston. It allowed Harvard to cut the lead to 20–18 with 9:39 to play in the half, but threes from Aidan Shaw and Payne kickstarted a 18–12 run for BC.
Harvard did not back down, and the two teams settled into a back-and-forth defensive battle for the rest of the half, which ultimately ended with BC leading 38–30.
The Crimson turned five offensive rebounds into eight second chance points, which contributed to BC’s lack of a double-digit lead at the break.
In the second half, it was Harvard’s turn to open things up with a run. The Crimson scored 14 points in five minutes, whittling down BC’s lead to 46–44. Once again, though, BC’s offense responded. The Eagles countered with a 9–2 run of their own to get the lead up to 55–46 with 12 minutes to go.
Caleb Steger made sure BC’s dominance would persist. The freshman hit three 3-pointers in less than three minutes to stretch the Eagles’ lead to 66–48 with just under eight minutes to go in the game. Steger finished with nine points in eight minutes in the best game of his young career thus far.
“He’s a game changer,” Grant said. “We knew it when we were recruiting him. He’s just a sniper.”
Harvard continued to push, but the Eagles rode strong free-throw shooting from veterans to hold the lead and close out the game 73–60.