Boston College head coach Earl Grant is hoping for the same effort that propelled his team into overtime Saturday when the Eagles face visiting Central Connecticut on Tuesday in Chestnut Hill, Mass.
In their ACC opener Saturday, Boston College dropped an 84-78 decision to NC State in a game that needed extra time to decide.
“I thought we played hard, I thought we played tough,” Grant said. “We kept swinging the ax. At the end of the day, they made some really tough shots — dagger shots.
“Obviously we had opportunities to win the game. It’s a thin line. … I thought the energy, the effort and the stick-to-itiveness was a good sign. We can carry that effort into any game and have a chance.”
Jaeden Zackery scored 20 points in the loss for the Eagles (5-3), while making 9 of his 11 free-throw attempts. But Boston College shot 14-of-26 (53.8 percent) from the free-throw line overall. BC remains one of the better free-throw shooting teams in the country at 77.4 percent on the season.
Central Connecticut (3-4) will enter the contest on a two-game winning streak. The Blue Devils beat Army 79-51 on Wednesday and earned a 78-67 victory over Holy Cross on Saturday.
Against Holy Cross, Jordan Jones scored a career-high 18 points for the Blue Devils and Kellen Amos added 12 points and 10 rebounds.
“I’m not really worried about stats,” Amos said. “Coming into this year, I’m just trying to do more because I know I’m going to have games where I’m not making shots.”
Allan Jeanne-Rose scored 14 points and Tre Breland came off the bench to make 5 of 6 field goal attempts (two 3-pointers) and finish with 12 points. Breland added four rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot.
“I’m the energy guy, the glue guy,” Breland said. “I’m not going to score a million points every game, but I’m going to play hard and help my team win.”
Boston College’s Quinten Post tossed in 18 points against NC State. He scored at least 20 points in four straight contests entering that game and has averaged a team-best 20.9 on the season.
Tuesday’s matchup will be the first of three consecutive road games for Central Connecticut.
–Field Level Media