On Saturday afternoon, the BC men’s basketball team hosted the Cal Golden Bears, the last of a three-game homestand at Conte Forum.
Cal jumped out to an early 15-6 lead after making some quick layups and stifling the Eagles’ disorganized offense. But BC finally started to find its rhythm after Jason Asemota hit a 3-pointer, Aiden Shaw made a nice hook shot at the line and Jayden Hastings got to the free throw line. The Eagles reduced the deficit to 7 points midway through the first half. But that offensive rhythm died out as quickly as it started. The next seven offensive possessions went nowhere and Cal hit 3-pointers on 3 of 4 possessions. The Golden Bears’ lead ballooned to 20 points before halftime and eventually settled at 43-28.
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The second half was more back and forth with Fred Payne leading the way, who finished with 16 points to lead the BC team. But as soon as BC hit some shots, their defense unleashed more threes. Chris Bell hit quite a few of them, going 6/10 on the night and finishing with 22 points. The Eagles never cut the lead below double digits at any point, and Cal eventually broke through several possessions with drives to the basket and finally cashed in a 3-pointer from Dai Dai Ames that put the nail in the coffin. BC’s defense was never enough and Cal was able to advance with an 86-75 victory.
This is the Eagles’ sixth straight loss, falling to 9-16 on the season. They will then face the FSU Seminoles on Tuesday night in Tallahassee at 6 pm ET.