Bowman, BC bounce back
Boston College needed a confidence boost after getting throttled at North Carolina in its last game.
The Eagles recovered
BOSTON COLLEGE 86 DARTMOUTH 72
from their Chapel Hill debacle with a convincing 8672 victory over Dartmouth before a crowd of 4,953 yesterday at Conte Forum.
BC improved to 12-6 with its 10th victory outside of the ACC. BC is off to its best start since 201011, and resumes conference play against Florida State tomorrow night at Conte. The struggling Big Green dropped to 4-10 and resume Ivy League play at Harvard Saturday.
BC shot 55.9 percent from the floor, nailed 12 treys and all five starters reached double figures. BC enjoyed a 35-26 advantage on the boards — a far cry from the 58-23 deficit to UNC just a few days ago.
Forward Nik Popovic had the biggest individual turnaround with 14 points and eight rebounds. The sophomore from Bosnia-Herzegovina had four points and three boards against the Heels.
“We were really hungry because that was a really bad game against UNC,” said Popovic. “It was really important for us to come back because I obviously played a really bad game that day.”
Guard Ky Bowman led BC with 19 points, six assists and four rebounds. Guard Jerome Robinson scored 17, while freshman forward Steffon Mitchell notched his second career double-double with 10 points and 10 boards. Dartmouth shot 46.6 percent from the field but drained only 1-of-10 from behind the 3-point line in the second half after a blistering 8-of-13 showing in the first 20 minutes.
“In the second half we increased the ball pressure and that hurt them a little bit,” said BC coach Jim Christian, whose team held a 41-38 edge at the break. “Rebounding is going to be a huge key come (tomorrow) night, they know it and we know it and it is going to be a key every night in the ACC.”
Bowman opened the second half with a three-point play and a trey from the top of the key during an 8-2 run that gave BC a 49-40 lead just 84 seconds into the frame.
Bowman added two more 3-pointers during a 10-2 splurge to put BC up 59-42. Bowman had 12 of his 16 second-half points in the opening five minutes.
Bowman’s signature basket occurred with 12:57 remaining. He stole an inbound pass at center court and completed the transition with a crowd-awakening, windmill jam that put BC up 22 points.
“I get nervous every time he does all that,” said Christian. “I know it’s going in, I’m not nervous about the missed shot but he does what he does and he’s a phenomenal athlete.”
BC controlled things the rest of the way with Jordan Chatman (15) and Vin Baker Jr. leading the late surge. Baker finished with a career-high nine points and two rebounds in 19 minutes.