Boston College 72 Eastern Washington 68: BC Squeak By In Close Win
In the finale of the Gotham Classic it was the Boston College Eagles who came out on top, narrowly escaping with a win against the Eastern Washington Eagles in front of a very sparse crowd at Conte Forum.
Boston College was bed by the three point shooting of freshman shooting guard Jay Heath who went from 5-7 from beyond the arc on way to a game high 17 points in the game. Nik Popovic had a double double with 13 points to go along with his 12 rebounds, and had two big free throws down the stretch.
BC jumped out to an early 18-7 lead on a barrage of three pointers from Heath and Jared Hamilton, but Eastern Washington clawed back on the hot hand of Kim Aiken (17 points, 13 rebounds) and Jacob Davidson who had a game high 26 points to go along with eight rebounds. The two teams continued to trade shots, and Boston College a heavy favorite was only up by two going into the half.
The second half was more of the same as both teams continued to keep it close, with EWU getting as close as two and BC failing to expand their lead past six. But in the end the Eagles were able to do just enough to win this with Derryck Thornton, and Popovic hitting some big free throws down the stretch, and Jay Heath sealing the four point win with a steal in the final minute.
Going into this game many had hoped that the Belmont game was a blip, a team that was good that pushed the Eagles around. But tonight showed that Sunday's game was not just an aberration. BC shot poorly from the field, Thornton had six turnovers and they allowed EWU to grab 13 offensive rebounds.
BC will be back on the court on Saturday when they take on undefeated DePaul. The Blue Demons are undefeated and ranked one spot ahead of Belmont on the KenPom rankings. We will have full coverage of that game here on BC Maven on SI.