Second Half Comeback Falls Short at Cal

BERKELEY, Calif. — Donald Hand Jr. scored all 19 of his points in the second half, leading three Eagles in double figures in an 82-71 loss at Cal on Saturday night.

Hand played eight scoreless minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, but made up for it in the second half as BC rallied from as many as 13 down in the first half to take a second half lead.

Luka Toews and Dion Brown paced the Eagles in the first half. Toews scored 12 of his career-best 14 in the first half, while Brown finished with a double-double - 12 points and 10 boards.

FIRST HALF

The Eagles struggled out of the gate offensively, trailing 13-2 just four and a half minutes into the game
BC trailed by as many as 13 - 21-8 - with a little less than nine minutes remaining
A Roger McFarlane 3-pointer with 8:12 to play got BC within eight (21-13)
Luka Toews engineered his own 6-0 run, capped by a 3-pointer which cut the deficit to 24-19 with 6:23 left
Another Toews jumper cut it to two - 27-25 - with 4:07 left. The freshman had 12 points in the opening frame.
After a turnaround from Dion Brown cut it to 29-27 with 3:23 to go, the Bears closed the half on a 13-4 run and led 42-31 at the break

SECOND HALF

BC began the second half on a 13-3 run, making 5-of-6 field goals to start the period
A Jayden Hastings fast break slam made it a one-point game - 45-44 - with 15:35 to play
The second of two free throws from Hand with 14:31 left gave BC its first lead of the game - 46-45
Six straight by the Bears pushed their lead back to five - 51-46 - with 13:30 to play
Elijah Strong's layup in traffic capped a 6-0 push, putting BC back up 54-53, with 10:16 left
But BC would go cold for a stretch, making only 1-of-11 while Cal regained and extended its lead to 72-60 with 3:43 to play
A driving dunk by Hand cut it to 76-69 with 1:22 left but Cal would push it back to nine on its next trip down the court
BC would again get it to seven - 78-71 - after a Chas Kelley III jumper but that was as close as it got, as the Bears sealed the win with four free throws down the stretch

NOTABLES

Jayden Hastings registered his 12th multi-block game of the season
Toews made 5-of-6 shots in the first half, ending with a career-high 14 points
Donald Hand Jr. was 10-for-10 from the line - the second time this season that the sophomore was perfect from the charity stripe with at least 10 attempts
Paced by Hand, the Eagles were a perfect 14-for-14 from the line in the second half

WHAT'S NEXT

Boston College finishes up play at home on Wednesday, hosting Clemson at 7 p.m.
The game will air live on ESPNU, with Jay Alter and Malcolm Huckaby on the broadcast call.
Fans can also tune into the game live on WEEI 850 AM.

Next Event

Team Stats

Donald Hand Jr.

Luka Toews

Dion Brown

Elijah Strong

Players Mentioned

Dion Brown

Donald Hand Jr.

Jayden Hastings

Chas Kelley III

Roger McFarlane

Elijah Strong

Luka Toews