Eagles Overcome Early Struggles, Take Home Opener 76-47 over The Citadel
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Boston College men’s basketball opened its home campaign on Thursday night against The Citadel, shaking off some early shooting woes and winning 76-47.
The Citadel opened the game in a 1-3-1 zone, which gave BC fits. The Eagles took three three-pointers in the game’s first four minutes, but none went down.
The Citadel led 16-9 at the 11:21 mark of the first half, as the Eagles continued to struggle from the field. BC missed its first seven shots from three-point range.
Marko Radunovic came off the bench to provide BC with a spark. He scored seven points in his first six minutes as the Eagles tied the game at 16 points apiece. An and-one from Jason Asemota added to a 12-0 BC run. The Eagles scored 14 unanswered before The Citadel ended the streak with a layup.
The Citadel was forced to call a timeout with 6:20 left in the first half after a left-wing triple from Caleb Steger gave the Eagles a 26-18 advantage. Steger played just six minutes in the opener and was held scoreless. He contributed eight points on Thursday night.
BC led 30-18 at the under-four media timeout in the midst of a 23-2 run.
The Eagles took a 38-24 lead into the halftime break, paced by Chase Forte’s eight points. After a slow start, BC turned things around and took a comfortable lead into the second half. BC shot just 2-14 from three-point range in the first half but found success inside, going 10-13 from the free-throw line. Ball security was key for the Eagles, committing just one first-half turnover.
"We got a lot of good ball handlers," BC head coach Earl Grant said. "We were very intelligent in terms of our decision making with the ball. We weren't forcing a lot of stuff."
Aidan Shaw’s alley-oop slam capped off an 8-0 run for BC to open the second half and forced The Citadel to call a timeout.
Donald Hand Jr. opened the second half looking for his shot, getting up to 15 points by the under-12 media timeout. The Eagles held a comfortable 54-33 advantage with 11:17 left in the home opener. His free-throw shooting remained an issue, ending the night with an 8-14 tally from the line.
Fred Payne's and-one layup through traffic gave the Eagles a 63-40 lead with 7:03 remaining.
BC eventually closed out the win led by Donald Hand Jr.'s 18 points.
"First game at home, we wanted to give our fans something to be exciting to come back and watch us again," said Grant. "We played hard, played with good energy, we weren't selfish."
The Eagles will be back in action on Tuesday, Nov. 11, when they'll face Central Connecticut at 7 p.m. ET in Conte Forum.
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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.