Boston College
St. Bonaventure
Men's Basketball Defeats St. Bonaventure, 77-70
January 03, 2004 | Men's Basketball
Jan 3, 2004
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - Uka Agbai feels like he needs to lead a young Boston College team when it opens Big East play on Tuesday. He started Saturday by recovering from a poor game earlier this week.
Agbai scored 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds, powering the Eagles to a 77-70 win over St. Bonaventure.
BC (10-2), which opens what could be its final Big East season at Georgetown, starts two freshman and two sophomores along with fifth-year senior Agbai, who missed most of last season after breaking a bone in his neck.
"I'm just trying to lead as much as possible. That's my motivation - to get this team to the NCAA tournament and win the Big East championship," said Agbai, who was scoreless in a 72-62 loss at Clemson on Tuesday.
"That was the Uka Agbai from his freshman and sophomore year," BC coach Al Skinner said. "We're trying to get him back. If he brings that energy that'll help our team a lot."
Jared Dudley also scored 18 points and Craig Smith had 16.
The Eagles won the game because of an overwhelming rebounding advantage. BC owned a 48-22 edge on the boards. Smith had nine rebounds and Dudley added eight.
"We knew coming in that Boston College had a very effective front line," Bonnies coach Anthony Solomon said. "It showed by their ability to go (for over) 40 points and the rebounding."
Marques Green led the Bonnies (4-7) with 29 points, and Maurice Young had 16. It was St. Bonaventure's third straight loss.
"Green's a great player," Smith said. "He kept them in there."
The Eagles opened a 57-43 lead on Smith's turnaround bank shot with just under 11 minutes to go, but the Bonnies went on an 11-0 run over the next 3? minutes to close the gap to three on Ahmad Smith's layup with 6:27 to play. Green had seven points in the spree, including a long 3-pointer from the top.
BC's lead then varied from three to six points over the next four minutes as the Eagles controlled the glass to keep St. Bonaventure from getting closer.
The Eagles put the game away by hitting 8 of 10 free throws to open a 74-65 lead.
BC used runs of 12-2 and 14-2 early in the first half to open a 28-8 lead, but the Bonnies closed the half by scoring 21 of the final 26 points to pull to 33-29 at the break.
"I think we still haven't played our best ball yet," Craig Smith said. "The people are going to see it."
