Boston College Men's Basketball Drops Fifth Straight Game, Loses to Stanford 70-64
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Boston College men’s basketball returned to Conte Forum on Wednesday night for the second matchup of its three-game home stand against Stanford.
The Eagles hung tough but eventually fell by a score of 70-64.
The Eagles used their size early, scoring their first six points in the paint and taking a 6-5 lead at the first media timeout. Boden Kapke, Fred Payne, and Jayden Hastings all contributed early buckets for BC.
BC couldn’t buy a bucket after the first stoppage. Stanford went on a 12-0 surge in just under four minutes, forcing Earl Grant to call a timeout with the Eagles down nine points at the 12:20 mark of the first half. Stanford’s Benny Gealer hit two early three-pointers.
Earl Grant’s team regrouped after the timeout and went on a quick 6-0 run, forcing the Cardinal use a timeout of their own.
Donald Hand Jr. went down with a lower-body injury after having his shot blocked with 7:50 left in the first half. Hand Jr. was able to put weight on his leg as he limped off, but held his head in his hands, clearly distraught. He was later ruled out for the remainder of the game.
Stanford turned in a 9-0 surge before Luka Toews put a stop to the bleeding with a floater to make it a 27-16 game with 6:23 left.
The Eagles trailed 32-22 at the final media stoppage of the first half, led by Fred Payne’s eight points.
Jayden Hastings was given a technical foul with just over three minutes remaining in the first half. It appeared that Hastings yelled in the direction of the referee after a three-second violation on Stanford.
Chase Forte provided the Eagles with tremendous energy in the first half. With just over a minute remaining, he nabbed a steal and ran coast-to-coast before dishing to Fred Payne for an easy layup, which cut Stanford’s lead to just two points.
"We went with the three guards and he responded well," BC head coach Earl Grant said on Forte. "I thought he was aggressive, and it really helped us having him and Fred in the game at the same time so Fred didn't have to guard Ebuka the whole game."
Toews tied the game at 34 just after with a mid-range jumper.
The teams headed into the halftime break knotted at 34 points apiece. Payne led BC with 10 first-half points.
Kapke put the Eagles ahead with a top-of-the-key three-pointer as BC took a 41-38 advantage into the first media timeout of the second half.
Stanford went on a 7-0 run over the next couple of minutes to regain control as the Eagles endured a scoring drought that lasted nearly four minutes. At the under-12 media timeout with 11:27 left, the Cardinal held a 49-43 advantage.
Stanford star freshman Ebuka Okorie was hard to contend with all night. Off the back of a 40-point performance against Georgia Tech on Saturday, he scored 22 points.
BC trailed 65-60 at the final media timeout after a jumper from Payne.
After two free throws from Hastings and a Stanford turnover, the Eagles got the ball back with just under two minutes down three points, but Payne missed a wide-open three-pointer, which would have tied it up.
Gealer hit a huge three-pointer to push the Cardinal lead to six points with 30 seconds remaining to end the game.
"I wish we were better in terms of our result," Grant said. "But I know when I really look at this season and reflect on what we've seen so far, we've done a really good job with what we got and we've been coming up very short against every opponent."
The Eagles will be back in action on Saturday, Feb 14 at 12 p.m. ET when they host Cal. The game will be shown on ACC Network.
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Brendan Mogan is studying communication and journalism at Boston College. He has worked as a staff writer for The Heights, the independent student newspaper, since spring 2023. There, he has covered women’s basketball, baseball, volleyball, and more. Brendan works as a writer in the USA Basketball Writing Program, covering its youth teams in tournaments such as the FIBA U19 Men’s World Cup. He joined Boston College Eagles On SI in 2025.