Masterclass Win Sends BC To Cayman Islands Championship Game

GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands -- Elijah Strong knew it was in.

Ever the confident shooter, the sophomore combo forward forced himself into an open spot as time wound down in the overtime period between Boston College and Missouri State. His quick ball screen for guard Chas Kelley forced the Bears to commit a second defender to the ball handler, after which Strong swung towards the left side elbow without anyone following. Maybe it was because Missouri State didn't believe he would actually take that shot, but as Kelley drew the double-team further to the right, Strong stepped back for an uncontested look at the basket.

As soon as he hit the spot, he knew he was getting that shot, but Strong also knew he'd spent hours practicing specifically for that individual moment. He'd taken hundreds of shots in the Hoag Basketball Pavilion with the expectation that he would eventually receive the look at the basket, and in that moment, the seas parted and transported him back to Chestnut Hill.

Zero doubt crossed his mind when the ball left his hand, and as the basketball swished the John Gray Gymnasium basket with four seconds remaining in overtime, the BC bench erupted in celebration. One defensive stop later, Strong joined his teammates with a gregarious yell to the fans who had just witnessed the Eagles' 76-74 win over a Missouri Valley Conference opponent.

The celebration didn't stop when Strong and head coach Earl Grant met with the media after the game. As the aftermath settled into the Cayman Islands night, BC realized one game remained, and as the team walked off the court, it slowly realized that the next time, the next game, was for a trophy.

"I was happy that we got to overtime," said head coach Earl Grant. "Watching film against Missouri State, they'd played a triple overtime game, so what I realized was that they'd been to overtime and found a way to win. We had never played in an overtime game, so when we settled down and simplified the group that we were in, Elijah delivered a huge three, and I was just really proud of these guys."

Monday's win offered a masterclass for a BC team that watched Missouri State eradicate an 11-point deficit to gain a six-point lead as the second half melted into overtime. That the Eagles even got to the extra period offered a bit of success, but it also set the tone with a game-tying play that became a callback less than five minutes of game-time later.

Finding itself trailing by three in the closing seconds of the second half, BC ran a play that eventually allowed Strong to even run that ball screen in the first place. Like overtime, the Eagles brought the ball over half-court with a guard in isolation posture, but Chad Venning's presence in the low post forced Missouri State to collapse its defensive alignment into a double-team after BC fed its big man with his back to the basket. That attack subsequently left Donald Hand Jr. alone in the corner for a game-tying three that brought the Bears to the brink.

"You've got to get shots up in order to get them to go in," Payne said of the shot that forced five extra minutes. "They're not going in if you're not shooting them, so you have to shoot them when you have the opportunities."

That exact defense met BC in its frontcourt following a miss that would have iced the game. Relying on its overall muscle memory, Missouri State attempted to protect the basket for a higher-percentage shot, but Venning's fifth foul translated to Strong's shift to the five. He was never heading into the interior, and when Kelley shifted to his right, nobody had an opportunity to put a hand in the 245-pound center's face.

"I've been playing center since high school," Strong said. "It's not new to play the five for me, and in our third group in practice, I play the five for the whole time. But to pull out that lineup at the end of the game, our five position is like a second point guard, so being able to understand where everybody's supposed to be is a skill that you just have to have, especially at this level. They're going to have to put me [there], and I just have to be comfortable with that [because] my coaches are comfortable to put me [there]."

"He's six-foot-eight and 245 pounds," Grant said, "so he has pretty good size and good skill. He can shoot it, and we encouraged him to shoot a lot over the summer. He made that shot a little bit last year, but we encouraged him to take chances on threes. He's really good at putting the ball on the floor and attacking with two or three dribbles, but he gives you a different element. In practice when we put him there, we put Kany Tchanda in there with him, but that makes Elijah a match-up problem because he plays inside-out and can pass and do a lot of things."

Strong finished with 13 points, four rebounds and two blocks on the defensive end in 33 minutes while Payne tied Donald Hand Jr. for the team-lead with 18 points. All three went a combined 8-for-14 on three-pointers, and Hand added eight rebounds after cleaning the defensive window for seven boards. Kelley added six assists and Venning posted four blocks with three rebounds before fouling out in the overtime period.

Missouri State, meanwhile, stayed on BC's heels and eventually passed the Eagles in the second half and overtime largely because of its ability to get to the line. Dez White led all scorers with 25 points after going 12-for-13 from the line for a team that shot 23-for-29 from the charity stripe while Jalen Hampton grabbed 10 rebounds as part of a 15-and-10 double-double.

"We knew they were a top-25 team in the country at getting to the free throw line," said Grant, "so we committed ourselves to winning that battle. We wanted to make them shoot tough shots, and in the first half, I thought we were doing that. But then we said we wanted them to make tough decisions at the rim while being physical at the rim [against our offense], and we didn't do either. We shot some balls in between the free throw line and the charge circle instead of putting ourselves closer to the backboard in the rim, so we didn't get as many fouls. Not winning that battle, we knew it was going to be a challenge for us, and they got their number. But we found a way to win with a lot of young players on the floor late in the game."

Gaining a win over the Missouri Valley Conference was an equally big step for BC even though Missouri State is on the verge of leaving the league for Conference USA, and it assured the Eagles of their first tournament championship game attempt since 2018's win over Loyola Chicago in the Fort Myers Tip-Off. It likewise moved BC back inside the top-120 in the national KenPom ratings while continuing to erase the initial stain caused by the VCU loss.

"This is what we came down here for," said Payne. "We're just taking it one game at a time, but while it's like a normal game to us, it will be big to play Boise State for the championship."

The Eagles and Broncos have never met previously, but will tip-off at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday night in the championship game of the 2024 Cayman Islands Classic. The game can be seen via the subscription-service FloCollege, available via streaming on the FloSports app.

Masterclass Win Sends BC To Cayman Islands Championship Game

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Donald Hand Jr.

Elijah Strong

Kany Tchanda

Chad Venning