On Wednesday night, the Boston College Eagles men’s basketball team hosted the Richmond Spiders in Conte Forum for their third game of the season. Both teams came into the contest sporting a 2-0 record and an impressive big man. Quinten Post vs Neal Quinn was the match-up to watch in the frontcourt, and while Quinn got the better hand overall, Post was able to lead his team to the 68-61 win.
The game started out hot for Quinn, who reached 8 points before the first TV timeout and held Post in check defensively, too. BC struggled to defend him and others in the paint early and fell to a double-digit deficit early as a result. But as Quinn started to cool down, nobody from Richmond could step up on offense as BC started to clamp down on them. The Eagles went on a 13-0 run as the first half winded down and brought the game much closer, but their turnovers kept coming back to bite them and allowed Richmond to keep their lead. It was 34-30 to end the first half after Donald Hand hit a buzzer-beater three-pointer. Quinten Post led the team in scoring with 10 points, but the tough defense meant he did not look like his usual efficient self.
The second half went a lot better for the Eagles. The BC offense started pushing the pace, earning more turnovers and scoring more in transition with Quinten Post finally getting help from Prince Aligbe and Claudell Harris, who all ended the night with double-digit points. While they never really overpowered the Spiders, BC figured out enough to increase their scoring and surpass Richmond a few minutes into the second half and never relinquished their lead from there. Quinten Post ended the game with a team-leading 21 points in a low-scoring affair that Boston College won, 68-61.
While the defense didn’t look great all game, especially Post’s D in the paint, BC did eventually lean on it to secure the win. The offense is going to have to improve if they want to keep winning games, though, because it hasn’t looked very good through three games whenever Quinten Post isn’t finding his rhythm. Aligbe and Harris did show a lot of good flashes tonight, however, and they could be serious threats to improve as the season progresses.
Boston College next hosts the Harvard Crimson on Saturday at 5pm in Conte Forum.