Boston College Athletics
Men's Basketball Ready to Host Harvard
June 21, 1999 | Men's Basketball
November 18, 1998
HARVARD (0-0) at BOSTON COLLEGE (0-1)
Silvio O. Conte Forum (8,606) -- Chestnut Hill, MA
BOSTON COLLEGE'S PROBABLE STARTERS
1998-99 PPG, RPG F 3 Michael Cotton 2.0, 8.0 F 4 Jonathan Beerbohm 4.0, 0.0 F 13 Kenny Harley 19.0, 5.0 G 5 Dwayne Pina 5.0, 1.0 G 12 Clinton Sims 6.0, 2.0BC AT HOME: Boston College has a 0-1 home record this season, having lost its season opener to Marquette, 70-49, on November 14 ... The Eagles had a 9-6 home record last season, including a perfect 6-0 record in non-conference contests ... The Eagles' loss to Marquette snapped a 25-game Conte Forum winning streak in non-league games. Prior to the Marquette defeat, BC's last home loss in a non-conference game was a 75-58 loss to Providence in the quarterfinal round of the 1993 NIT (March 24, 1993).
THE SEASON OPENER: Sophomore Kenny Harley scored a career-high 19 points and grabbed five rebounds to lead Boston College in a 70-49 season-opening loss to Marquette on November 14. Marquette shot 63.0 percent from the field in the first half to take a 41-24 lead at the break. BC, which shot 28.2 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes, hit just 26.5 percent from the field in the second half and could never cut into the Golden Eagles' advantage ... Marquette outrebounded BC, 46-33 ... On a positive note, the Eagles forced the visitors into 24 turnovers, while committing just 10 of their own.
WE'RE YOUNG: The 1998-99 Boston College roster features four juniors (including one transfer who is sitting out the 1998-99 season), four sophomores and six freshmen. In the season opener against Marquette, five freshmen combined to play 82 minutes. Three sophomores played 62 of the 200 minutes, while two juniors played 56 minutes.
THE SERIES VS. HARVARD: Boston College has a 31-8 all-time record against the Crimson. The two teams last met on December 5, 1992, with BC gaining a 96-57 home win ... BC has won the last 13 meetings. Harvard's last win over the Eagles was a 79-65 win in the first round of the Beanpot Tournament on Jan. 13, 1976. Tom "Satch" Sanders was the Crimson head coach at the time. Mike Jarvis, now the head coach at St. John's, was Sanders' assistant.
THE LAST BC-HARVARD MEETING: Six Boston College players scored in double figures as the Eagles cruised to a 96-57 victory in Conte Forum on Dec. 5, 1992. Gerrod Abram and Marc Molinsky led all BC scorers with 13 points each. BC raced to a 16-0 lead in the first four minutes of the game and led 55-9 before the Crimson hit double figures with just 90 seconds left in the first half.
JONATHAN BEERBOHM: The sophomore forward played in all 31 games last winter, making five starts. He averaged 3.6 points and 2.3 rebounds per game ... The Fairbury, Neb. native scored four points in 21 minutes in the season opener against Marquette.
KENNY HARLEY: The sophomore netted a game-high and career-high 19 points in the season opener against Marquette. His previous career high was a 13-point effort against Florida Atlantic on Nov. 19, 1997. The first player to sign with Boston College after Al Skinner assumed the head coaching duties, Harley played in all 31 games last winter, making 21 starts. He finished the season averaging 4.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.
DWAYNE PINA: The junior point guard played 30 minutes in the season opener against Marquette. He finished with five points, two assists and four steals. Pina is in his second season on the Eagles' roster after earning a spot on the roster as a walk-on prior to the 1997-98 season. With his impressive play early last season, he earned a scholarship for the second semester (and this year as well). He started the last eight games of the 1997-98 season.
THE WALK-ONS: Junior Jim Boland and sophomores Julian Bah and Nicolas Dunn all earned roster spots as walk-ons prior to the 1997-98 season and are now in their second seasons with the team ... A native of Guinea, West Africa, Bah played 11 minutes in the season opener against Marquette, finishing with two points, three rebounds, one blocked shot and one steal.
MICHAEL COTTON: A junior guard from Detroit, Mich., Michael Cotton made his first (non-exhibition) collegiate appearance since the 1997 Big 12 Tournament in the Eagles' season opener against Marquette. Cotton played the 1995-96 and 1996-97 seasons at the University of Oklahoma, before transferring to Boston College and sitting out the 1997-98 season. In his two seasons as a Sooner, Cotton played in 38 games ... Cotton contributed two points and a team-high eight rebounds in 26 minutes of action against Marquette.
THE FRESHMEN: Head coach Al Skinner and his staff have six highly-regarded freshmen on their 1998-99 roster.
Guard Clinton Sims made his first collegiate start in his first collegiate game -- against Marquette. He finished with six points and two rebounds in 22 minutes. Sims is the younger brother of former Louisville star Alvin Sims.WAIT 'TIL NEXT YEAR: Junior swingman Xavier Singletary will sit out the 1998-99 season after transferring to the Heights from Howard University. Last winter, Singletary finished as the nation's ninth-leading scorer with a 22.3 ppg average (in 23 games). He earned 1996-97 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year honors, and 1997-98 All-MEAC first team honors.Guard Kenny Walls was impressive in his collegiate debut. Coming off the bench, the athletic Walls contributed four points and five rebounds in 17 minutes. The 1997-98 San Francisco Player of the Year, Walls is a graduate of Galileo High School.
Guard Willie Deane tallied five points and three rebounds in 14 minutes. The 6-foot-1-inch freshman provided one of the highlights of the season-opening game with a spectacular slam dunk (off a steal) with just more than five minutes remaining in the game.
Forward Brian Ross recorded two points, four rebounds and five steals in his collegiate debut. As a senior at North Quincy High School last year, Ross led all Massachusetts scorers with a 36.7 ppg average.
Forward Osei Millar did not score in 11 minutes of action against Marquette. Millar has been hampered by a sprained left thumb that forced him to miss the Eagles' second exhibition game.
Forward Timos Papadimitriou, who signed with the Eagles late in the summer of 1998, did not see any action in the season opener. Papadimitriou hails from Glyfada, Greece.
THE HEAD COACH: Al Skinner assumed the head coaching duties at Boston College on April 17, 1997. Skinner, a 1974 graduate of the University of Massachusetts, had a 15-16 record in his first season at the Heights. Prior to that, he enjoyed nine successful years at the University of Rhode Island. In his tenure at URI, Skinner had a 138-126 record, leading the Rams to two NCAA Tournament (1992-93 and 1996-97) and two NIT (1991-92 and 1995-96) bids ... Including his tenure at Boston College, Skinner has a career record of 153-143.
THE ASSISTANT COACHES: Skinner is joined on the BC bench by associate head coach Tim O'Shea, assistant coaches Bill Coen and Ed Cooley; and administrative assistant Pat Duquette. Three of the four -- Coen, Cooley and former BC star guard O'Shea ('84) -- came with Skinner from Rhode Island, while Duquette came to BC from St. Michaels College.
THE EXHIBITIONS: Junior Michael Cotton scored 17 points to lead five Eagles in double figures as Boston College defeated the BABC Alumni, 112-80, on Nov. 2. Joining Cotton in double digits were freshmen Kenny Walls (14 points) and Willie Deane (13 points), and sophomores Julian Bah (11 points) and Kenny Harley (11 points) ... In the second exhibition contest, Harley scored a team-high 19 points to lead the Eagles to an 82-75 victory over the One World All-Stars. Cotton and sophomore Jonathan Beerbohm each netted 14 points, while freshman Clinton Sims added 10 points.
ON RADIO: Boston College basketball games can be heard on SportsRadio 850 WEEI (AM). A passionate supporter of amateur athletics and college basketball in particular, Ted Sarandis returns for his fourth season as the voice of the basketball Eagles. The 1998-99 campaign marks his 22nd season describing the bouncing ball. He holds the unique distinction of having called play-by-play for all four Division I institutions in Boston -- Boston College, Boston University, Harvard and Northeastern -- as well as Holy Cross. In addition, the Boston native is host of the popular "Ted Nation" talk show, heard weeknights from 7 p.m.-midnight on SportsRadio 850 WEEI. He has also broadcast hockey and football at both the college and professional levels. Joining Sarandis is Bill Newell. Newell is in his second season with the basketball Eagles. He previously spent four seasons calling the action for the Boston College hockey team. Newell has also served as the play-by-play voice of Harvard football.
UP NEXT: Boston College will host Monmouth on Saturday, November 21. Game time is 7:30 p.m. in Conte Forum.
