BC Shuts Down Dartmouth, Runs Away With Season-Opening Win
Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom)Publisher
Earl Grant said that Boston College played really well for 32 minutes Tuesday night. The other eight came at the start of the second half when an offensively-challenged Dartmouth team stitched together a 15-6 run to transform a surefire blowout into a 14-point game.
BC’s offense came to a screeching halt, with a couple of bad turnovers and poor shooting. What turned things around was the Eagles’ effort on the other end of the court: something that Grant has been preaching since he arrived in Chestnut Hill.
“Us just clicking on defense obviously sparks offense,” DeMarr Langford Jr. said. “And it just works.”
BC, which turned to a press defense at different points throughout the season opener, forced a Dartmouth 10-second violation with 11:38 to go. After that, the Eagles scored eight straight points.
It was a stretch that saw Quinten Post throw down a two-handed flush following a James Karnik offensive rebound, and Langford turn a steal into a breakaway, one-handed dunk. From there, BC coasted to a 73-57 win, the first of the Grant era at BC.
“When we win, I like to have fun,” Grant said. “Winning is fun, and it’s hard to win. I think it’s very important to celebrate every victory that you have.”
Langford said that he and his teammates were trying to set up some kind of Gatorade bath for their head coach, but he was in the locker room early. Grant was ready to bust a move, just like he did at last week’s BC football game. This time, the moonwalk didn’t come out. But Grant got low.
Jubilation. Excitement. Two things that were hard to come by during BC’s COVID-19-ravaged 2020-21 season, in which former head coach Jim Christian was fired, and the Eagles won just four games.
It was a different start to this season. First of all, there were spectators in Conte Forum. Despite being a sophomore, Langford said he felt like a first-year player. After all, it was his first college home game with fans in the arena. But he noted that, as soon as the ball was tipped, the nerves disappeared.
Langford, who finished with a game-high 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting, was the first to get on the board. And, thanks to a pair of 3-pointers from his older brother, Makai Ashton-Langford, the Eagles (1-0) stormed out to an 11-2 lead over a Dartmouth team (0-1) that didn’t play last year because of the pandemic but was picked to place sixth in this season’s Ivy League standings.
The Big Green tried to create offense off ball screens, but once BC took away Dartmouth’s first action, the Eagles pretty much had their Ivy League foe trapped. The Big Green ended up launching 29 shots from beyond the arc. A mere six fell.
BC made a concerted effort to key in on fifth-year marksman Brendan Barry, who entered the year fourth on the active career list for 3-point percentage among qualifying DI players (44.5%). Tuesday, however, he was limited to just 10 points and 2-of-11 shooting from deep.
Dartmouth started 0-of-8 from the field. It wasn’t always pretty on the other end, though. Perhaps the most head-scratching sequence was when Big Green forward Dame Adelekun missed a fastbreak dunk, and then BC’s Brevin Galloway airballed a subsequent 3-point attempt.
Galloway, a grad transfer from College of Charleston who has known Grant since he was 11, struggled in his Eagles debut. Wearing a brace on his left leg where he tore his ACL last season, Galloway didn’t look like he was moving around that well. His shot was out of whack, as he was just 2-of-9, including 1-of-6 from downtown. Early in the second half, he left the game with what appeared to be an injury, or at least a tweak, to that left knee. He didn’t return.
Luckily for the Eagles, they got scoring from all different directions. Post, who had 14 points and six boards, put in work down low, even converting an old-fashioned three-point play in the first half, and freshman Kanye Jones stroked two 3-pointers, helping BC round out the first period with a 42-19 advantage.
Injuries were a concern at the start of the second half. Not only did Galloway leave, but Ashton-Langford and Drexel transfer TJ Bickerstaff also got looked at by medical trainers. Ashton-Lanford and Bickerstaff, however, returned. And eventually so did the Eagles’ offensive mojo.
Dartmouth’s 15-point surge to kick off the frame was orchestrated by the forward duo of Cam Krystkowiak and Aaryn Rai. They combined for 10 in that span and finished with a total of 16.
Once BC put on the clamps, the rest was history. A Barry 3-pointer with 2:59 left did cut the Eagles’ lead to 16, but BC freshman Gianni Thompson—a three star and a Newton native—answered with a triple of his own, and Grant’s team didn’t let Dartmouth get any closer.
It was Thompson’s first collegiate bucket, which was fitting for a night of firsts. Grant, though, wasn’t thinking that way.
“I really didn’t get caught up in it being a first game,” Grant said. “It didn’t feel like a first game.
“I felt at home.”
