BC Basketball: IUPUI upset Boston College 76- 69

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BC Basketball

Games like this will either give coaches gray hairs or lose them altogether. On Wednesday night at Conte Forum, the Boston College Eagles lost to the IUPUI Jaguar 76-69 in the preliminary stages of the Fort Myers Tip-Off Classic.

Boston College Head Coach, Jim Christian, was a very unhappy man. He said his team was “not committed to playing 40 minutes” and followed that one up with “we did not compete in the second half”.

It pretty much sums up how this one went. However, it did not start out in that fashion. BC jumped out to a 13-point lead at 20-7. Senior Jordan Chatman was hot early with five of those points on his way to a team-high 20 on the night.

Six minutes into the game, the Jaguars were only shooting 10% from the field and had only five points to show for it. They did not reach double digits in scoring until 9:26 remained in the first half when Elyiah Goes hit a three-pointer to make the Eagles lead ten at 20-10.

That bad start for IUPUI did not stay with them for the entire half. They would get to within four at 29-25 on a Camron Justice bucket. He had 13 in the first half and finished with game-high honors with 29, including a perfect 13-for-13 from the free throw line.

A ten nothing BC run gave them back the double-digit lead at 37-27. Freshman Winston Tabbs gave BC five in that run and had 15 for the game. At this stage, it looked like the Eagles were back in control of this game. But looks sometimes can be deceiving.

The Jaguars responded with a 7-0 burst to cut the lead to 39-34 late in the half. By halftime, Boston College had to settle for a six-point locker room lead at 42-36.

The second half downfall began after Chatman nailed a three to give BC a 49-41 advantage with 14:47 left in the game. Free throw shooting by Justice cut the lead to four at 52-48 with 13 minutes left. A Grant Weatherford basket in the lane brought the Jaguars back to a tie at 55 all with 10:18 to go. And when Evan Hall (18 points 10 rebounds) drove to the hoop and laid it in, it gave IUPUI their first lead of the night at 58-57 with under nine minutes to play.

The lead would go back and forth between the teams. Neither club had more than a three-point advantage. The Jaguars finally started to create some distance on free throws from Nick Rogers (eight on the night) and five more from Justice. The Conte Forum gathering was getting nervous and they had a right to be. With a 1:40 to play Boston College was down 72-66 and was running out of time.

The buzzer sounded and IUPUI had there second win all-time vs an ACC team. Their last win was back on December 29, 2001, vs Georgia Tech. Both teams now have identical records of 2-1 on the young season.

For Boston College, not only does this one sting, but they will have to wait until next Monday to right things. They will head to Fort Myers to continue this event, playing Wyoming at nine pm.