Reggie Jackson was scoreless through 13 minutes and finished with four first-half points, but Boston College still managed to take a 35-31 lead over California into halftime in the third-place game of the Old Spice Classic at HP Field House in Kissimmee, Florida.
Both teams swapped leads in the first ten minutes, and California grabbed a 19-14 lead with under 10 minutes left in the first half. The Eagles battled back to take a 29-27 lead with two minutes to play. Corey Raji and Biko Paris hit back-to-back threes after that to give Boston College a 35-29 lead with one minute left. California would score once more before the break.
Biko Paris scored a game-high nine points for Boston College. Corey Raji scored eight points and both Dallas Elmore and Josh Southern had four points for the Eagles.
Jorge Gutierrez also scored nine points for California in the first half and was a perfect 3-for-3 from three-point range. Allen Crabbe had six points and Gary Franklin and Markhuri Sanders-Frison each added five points for the Golden Bears.
Boston College was 15-of-32 (46.9%) from the field and made 4-of-12 three pointers (33.3%) while California hit 12-of-24 field goals (50%) and 6-of-9 threes (66.7%) in the first half.