CHESTNUT HILL - UNH was close. Holy Cross was ugly. UMass, well, it was about as maddening as it gets. Boston College opened up with a 16-8 run, but Massachusetts bridged the gap and took control of the game late in the first half and proceeded to flatten the Eagles, 82-46, to claim its forth straight win on Monday night at Conte Forum.
Boston College (1-2) has now lost two straight and has been outscored by its opponents 168-110 in the last two games. The Eagles were again haunted by terrible slow stretches and sloppy basketball, resulting in a season-high 23 turnovers.
"Well there's not much to say, obviously you get beat as badly as you did in every aspect of the game," said Boston College head coach Steve Donahue. "UMass played terrific, made shots, challenged and were not challenged, they obviously deserved to win the game."
Chaz Williams scored a game-high 16 points on 7-of-15 shooting and Freddie Riley added 14 points. Jesse Morgan and Cady Lalanne both had 11 points for the Minutemen, who shot 54.5 percent in the second half (18-for-33) and was 33-for-69 from the floor overall (47.8 percent).
Patrick Heckmann, who was returning from a left ankle injury, led the Eagles with 11 points on 1-of-3 shooting (9-for-12 FTs) and Matt Humphrey scored 10 points for BC. Ryan Anderson finished with right points and five rebounds for the Eagles, who finished the game 14-for-45 from the field and 5-for-22 from three-point range.
Anderson hit two three-pointers and Humphrey drained one to help lead the Eagles to their 16-8 start, but UMass patiently worked its way back into the game, going on a 13-4 run to take a one-point lead, 21-20, with 8:34 remaining in the first half, and the Minutemen never looked back.
"I was a little nervous when they started out and came out," said UMass coach Derek Kellog. "As you can see [they] had worked on some things over the last couple of days, but our guys held true, and we continued to keep the tempo and really get after them defensively. With nine new guys and really not much experience out there, I think it really cost them out there. I think where they are maturity and age wise, they fought hard for a while and basically our age and experience took over. It's tough on the coach but I know a lot of those guys will continue to get better."
UMass outscored BC 45-20 in the second half, all while the Eagles could never find their stride. Boston College was a dismal 7-for-22 from the field, 1-for-11 from three point range and 5-for-12 from the free throw line in the final half.
"I was disappointed with our effort in the second half in particular," Donahue said. "We were just unable to be competitive with possessions, certain things we look for and I know they're young but I know you need to compete better than we did. That's our chore, make sure we do that better."
Boston College travels to Anaheim to take part in the 76 Classic starting Thursday while UMass heads down to Atlantic City to play in the Battle 4 Atlantis, which also begins this Thursday.
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