Boston College MBB: Comeback Falls Short Against URI In Sunshine Slam

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Jaeden Zackery led all scorers with 19 points, while James Karnik tallied a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds, as Boston College battled to the end in a 71-65 loss to Rhode Island in the third-place game of the Sunshine Slam in Daytona Beach, Fla. on Sunday night.

The Rams (4-1) beat the visiting Eagles (3-3) 57-49 four days earlier in Rhode Island. It is the second time BC met a regular-season opponent in an in-season tournament. In December of 2001, they played Holy Cross at home and five days later they met again in Honolulu.

Jeremy Sheppard also had 15 points for Rhode Island and Ishmael El-Amin and Malik Martin had 10 apiece.

The Rams were 11 of 21 from 3-point range – Sheppard, El-Amin, and Martin were all 3 of 6 – and shot 51% (22 of 43) overall. They also went 16 of 19 from the foul line. Walker made all five of his field goals, two of them behind the arc, and three free throws.

Jaeden Zackery paced the Eagles with 19 points. James Karnik added 15 with 13 rebounds. Makai Ashton-Langford scored 12 and DeMarr Langford Jr. 11.

Martin hit a 3-pointer to ignite a 10-0 run that put Rhode Island up 31-18 and it was 34-24 at the half.

The Rams got the lead to 15 with a 7-0 surge less than six minutes into the second half but Karnik and Zachery combined for an 8-0 run and that became a 14-2 surge to cut the deficit to 46-43 with 9:21 to play.

Boston College never got closer after El-Amin followed with a 3-pointer. Sheppard scored seven points in the final 63 seconds to ice the win.