Tech defeated Boston College 68-60 on Tuesday night to pick up their second conference win of the season. The Jackets led 42-27 at halftime, equaling the number of points they scored total in their previous outing against Miami last Saturday, but a slow start in the second half by the Jackets opened the door for the Eagles to make a comeback. Evenly shooting 32 percent in the second half, Tech was able to hold the lead for the entire game.
Senior point guard Trae Golden led the Jackets with 24 points on 6-14 shooting including four three pointers. After struggling against Miami on Saturday, missing all five of his three point attempts, sophomore guard Chris Bolden went three-for-three from behind the arc and finished with a total of 11 points, all coming in the first half.
The Jackets were on fire to start the game. Tech made fourteen of their first fifteen field goals and held as much as a nineteen point lead. They made seventeen of their twenty three first half field goal attempts, including an impressive six three-pointers on nine attempts, to go into the half with a 42-27 lead. Three Jackets had points in the double digits at half time: senior Trae Golden lead the team with thirteen points, senior Kammeon Holsey had ten points on perfect five for five shooting, and sophomore Chris Bolden added eleven points. Boston College, on the other hand, struggled offensively and made just nine of their 24 field goal attempts. After a disappointing result against Miami, it appeared as if Tech would cruise on its way to a solid road win.
The roles reversed in the second half and suddenly it was the Eagles who were not missing and the Jackets who could not score. Boston College cut the lead down to nine points early in the half, thanks in part to a 10-0 run. With six minutes left in the game, the Jackets had missed thirteen of their last fifteen shot attempts. The Eagles went on a separate 11-2 run to cut the Tech lead all the way down to one.
That would be as close as the Eagles would get. The last few minutes saw both teams trade missed shots and turnovers before Golden would extend the lead for good. Golden made a tough jumper on a drive to the basket and a deep three pointer to extend the lead to five points. He would end up scoring eight of Tech’s last ten points to ultimately lead the Jackets to a win.
“Big win on the road. It’s almost better, in a way, to face adversity in the game and fight through it together,” Gregory said to ramblinwreck.com.