BC hits on target
Shooting threesome too much for ’Cuse
BOSTON COLLEGE 85 SYRACUSE 70
When Boston College’s heralded backcourt of Jerome Robinson and Ky Bowman are scoring at will, the Eagles are hard to beat.
But when Jordan Chatman gets in the mix, the task almost becomes impossible.
Syracuse’s 2-3 zone affords its opponents the opportunities, and BC’s shooters were licking their chops. The trio combined for 13 3-pointers and the Eagles were never really threatened as they pulled away from the Orange, 85-70, last night at Conte Forum.
Bowman scored 23 points, Robinson had 22 and Chatman added 18 as BC (17-13, 7-10 ACC) snapped a three-game losing streak and bounced back from its collapse at Miami on Saturday. They did it by cutting through the Orange’s zone at will, finding open shooters, and most importantly, knocking the shots down.
“You gotta make shots,” BC coach Jim Christian said. “If we didn’t make shots, it doesn’t look as good, but I just think we were very patient. We didn’t rush and force things, and if you do that and don’t turn the ball over — that was the biggest difference in the game.”
Those shots often came out of the hands of Chatman, who is the Eagles’ best threat from deep. While Robinson and Bowman get theirs on a nightly basis, Chatman can often be the difference maker — and he was last night.
“He’s the one I worry most about,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. “He’s their best shooter when he’s stationary.”
After initially trailing to start the game, the Eagles went off from deep. They made nine triples in the first half, with five coming from Bowman. But with BC leading by as many as 13, the Orange (18-12, 7-10) came back to make it a one-point game and a three-point deficit at half, 40-37.
But BC set the tone to start the second half. Chatman opened it with a 3 from the corner, and the Eagles were off.
Syracuse seemed to have regained momentum midway through the second half after a Tyus Battle and-one made it a sevenpoint game with 10:02 left, but the Eagles answered. On the next play, Nik Popovic and Bowman beat the Orange down the floor, and the 6-foot-11 big man delivered a behind-theback pass to Bowman for the layup.
“It was coming out of the timeout when we said, ‘Simple plays, simple plays,’ and he broke out the Magic Johnson,” Christian said.
But that seemed to reignite BC. The Eagles went on an 11-3 run to take back control, capped by Chatman’s fifth 3 of the night with 6:13 to go.
“At halftime we said, ‘Chatty, you’re gonna win this game. You’re gonna go 6-for-6,’” Christian said. “I think he owes me two, but against the zone, he’s one of the better zone-buster players in the country.”
Said Chatman: “We just made shots. When we’re making shots when they’re playing zone, it’s hard to guard.”
After blowing a 13-point lead with six minutes left against Miami, BC’s response last night was exactly what Christian was looking for.
“I think they showed a lot of character tonight,” Christian said. “We talked a little bit about it, but it was really the leadership of our team. It was great to see guys who felt really bad after the Miami game, to watch those guys play with confidence, that’s what you build from. We took a big step forward tonight. We really did . . . .
“To bounce back and play well and not doubt yourself, that’s a huge step for our program. That’s not something that would have happened previously.”