Boston College Men's Basketball Bounces Back With Road Win Over Temple

The Eagles got back to .500 with a road victory over the Owls on Saturday afternoon.

Boston College Men's Basketball (BCMBB) via X

After a last second loss to Central Connecticut State last week, the Boston College Eagles (2-2) men’s basketball team bounced back with a 76-71 road win over the Temple Owls (2-1) on Saturday afternoon. 

Boston College jumped out to a 15-8 lead over Temple nearly five and a half minutes into the opening half. During the stretch, the Eagles were led by guard Fred Payne who scored nine of those points, all three-pointers.

After that, the Eagles’ shooting challenges, that has plagued the team all season, started to show. Temple knotted up the contest at 20 with 9:16 to go in the half after going on a 12-5 lead. BC went 3-of-13 from the floor before retaking the lead on a three-pointer by guard Chase Forte to regain the lead 23-20 with 7:53 left in the first. 

Down the stretch of the first, the shooting woes moved to the other end of the court. After tying the game, the Owls went ice cold on offense as it missed 12 of their 13 shot attempts. 

Boston College went into halftime with a 36-31 lead. 

Coming out of the break, Temple’s shooting improved as the team went 4-of-9 (44.4%) to open the second, but could not regain a lead over the Eagles. 

Although Temple got close a couple of times, Boston College kept its lead throughout the remainder of the game.

The Owls got within one point 49-48 with 11:19 to go after a pair of free throws from guard Aiden Tobiason, but the Eagles followed that up with an 8-0 run to extend its lead 57-48 with 8:26 to go. 

Temple went on a late 8-0 run in the final minutes, but a layup by Payne stopped it and helped seal the win.

In total, Boston College shot 29-of-66 (43.9%) from the floor and 8-of-27 (29.6%) from three-point range. The Eagles also knocked down 10 of their 16 free throws. 

As for Temple, the team finished the contest shooting 34.3% (23-of-67) from the floor and 22.7% (5-of-22) from behind the arc. The Owls’ points from the charity stripe helped keep the game close as they scored 20 free throws on 27 shot attempts. 

Eagles guard Donald Hand Jr. led the team with 18 points while Owls guard Derrian Ford led his team with 18. 

Next up, Boston College returns to Conte Forum to host the Hampton Pirates on Tuesday night. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. ET on ACCNX.