CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -- Prince Aligbe's driving layup with less than a second left lifted Boston College over Cornell on Monday evening at the Conte Forum in the season opener for the men's basketball team. The Big Red loss extended its losing skid against ACC opponents to 38 games.
Nazir Williams scored 17 points to lead three Big Red players in double figures, with
Greg Dolan adding 13 and
Keller Boothby chipping in 11. Dolan added six rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Chris Manon scored nine points with four assists, three rebounds and three steals and
Sean Hansen had nine points and six rebounds. In his Cornell debut,
Max Watson scored seven points, including the game-tying 3-pointer with 20 seconds remaining. Cornell assisted on 18 baskets, hit 13 3-pointers and collected 13 steals in the loss.
It was 24 Cornell turnovers and slow starts to begin both halves that doomed the visitors. The Big Red fell behind by 12 less than seven minutes into the game, then connected on just one basket in the first 4:30 of the second half as the Eagles stretched out their lead. Cornell missed its first nine treys of the night.
Boston College got 16 points from Aligbe, and a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double from T.J. Bickerstaff that also included five steals, four assists and two blocked shots. Makai Ashton-Langford was credited with 12 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals and assisted on Aligbe's game-winning layup. CJ Penha came off the bench for 15 points and Jaeden Zackery scored 11 with seven assists and four steals. Boston College shot 47 percent from the floor for the game, but its 16 steals led to 21 points off turnovers.
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Gallery: (11-7-2022) Men's Basketball at BC, 11.07.22
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FIRST HALF
• Boston College got the first bucket of the season, but a pair of Boothby free throws lifted the lid on the Big Red season less than a minute into the game.
• The Eagles led 10-2 and eventually 16-4 right after the first media timeout as the Big Red missed 11 of its first 12 shots and was outrebounded 10-4.
• The visitors missed their first nine 3-pointers, but had forced eight BC turnovers and got the pace it wanted despite trailing by double figures early.
• Williams hit the first 3-pointer of the night 9:35 in and the Big Red were able to get something going.
• Back-to-back 3-pointers by Hansen and Williams got the Big Red within 29-26 and a layup by Ragland got Cornell within 29-28 as part of a 20-7 run.
• Cornell tied the contest at 33-33 on Williams' third 3-pointer of the half, but BC answered with a 3-pointer of its own to quickly snatch the lead back.Â
• A buzzer-beating halftime 3-pointer by
Greg Dolan cut the Cornell deficit to 43-41.
• After missing its first nine 3-pointers, Cornell made seven of its final 11 in the half, including four by Williams.
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SECOND HALF
• Much like the first half, Cornell struggled to score to start the second stanza and fell behind 49-43 at the first media timeout.
• Cornell clawed back to within 53-52, then grabbed its first lead of the day on consecutive 3-pointers by Dolan and Boothby to put the visitors up 58-53.
• BC tied it at 58-58, but a 3-pointer by Boothby and five straight points by Williams made it 68-62 with 5:14 remaining.
• From there, BC embarked on a 12-1 run to go up five points with under two minutes remaining.
• Dolan hit a tough jumper with just under 90 seconds to play to get back to within three, and Filien blocked a shot on the other end to get Cornell the ball back with 56 seconds left.
• After Cornell missed a shot, Manon harassed a turnover in the backcourt when a BC player tried to throw the basketball off his legs out of bounds and missed to give Cornell the ball bak to 40 seconds.
• The end of that possession came 10 seconds later when
Max Watson drained his first 3-pointer in a Big Red uniform to even the score.
• Boston College was able to hold the ball, call timeout with 17 seconds left and get a set that ended with Ashton-Langford finding Aligbe underneath for the contested game-winning bucket.
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NEXT UP
• The Big Red will play its home opener against first-time Division III foe SUNY Delhi on Thursday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. at Newman Arena in Bartels Hall.
• The Broncos were 20-7 a year ago, going 11-1 and advancing to the NAC West final.
• Cornell is 30-0 against non-Division I teams over the past 28 seasons.
• It is the first of two games against non-Division I opponents this season, as Cornell will also face Ithaca College on November 18 at home.
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