CHESTNUT HILL - Playing a complete game is the ultimate goal of any young team, and the Boston College Eagles achieved it on Sunday evening. From start to finish, BC played a sound game, resulting in a 66-51 victory over the Stony Brook Seawolves at Conte Forum.
"I'm very proud of our guys. I thought we persevered," said Boston College head coach Steve Donahue. "I thought we defended for 40 minutes. I thought we made a tough one most of the game. [I'm] just really proud of our guys going after the ball. I'm really happy obviously that we won the basketball game."
Patrick Heckmann scored a team-high 19 points to lead the Boston College Eagles, who improved to 4-0 all time against the Seawolves and snapped a four-game losing streak in the process.
"The last couple of games we played good the first half then stopped playing the second half," Heckmann said. "This game we did what we were supposed to do in the second half. It was a great challenge."
The Eagles fell behind 11-6 at the 11:50 mark after a Ron Bracey jumper and an Anthony Jackson three. Boston College responded with its 22-0 run, seizing a 28-11 lead entering halftime. BC shot an even 50 percent from the floor (11-for-22) in the first half while Stony Brook managed to make only 5-of-33 field goals (15.2 percent shooting) and 1-of-13 threes (7.7 percent). The 11 points scored by the Seawolves was the fewest in a single half in Conte Forum history.
"We made all of our shots, made the right decisions," Heckmann said about his team's run. "They got a couple of turnovers, we just stayed in front of them. That was the key, we played better and better."
Stony Brook opened up the second half on a 12-4 run to trim the BC lead to 31-22 with 17:33 remaining and trailed by nine points, 45-36, with 9:33 to go. However, the Eagles withstood the early rally and closed out the contest on a 21-15 run.
Jordan Daniels added 12 points and eight rebounds and Ryan Anderson scored 10 points and grabbed eight boards. Dennis Clifford (nine points, six rebounds), Lonnie Jackson (nine points) and Matt Humphrey (seven points) were also key contributors for Boston College, which finished the game 23-or-48 from the field (47.9 percent).
Bryan Dougher led all scorers with 21 points on 8-of-20 shooting for Stony Brook, which shot 29.7 percent (16-for-64) for the game. Jackson added 14 points and Dave Coley had eight points and six rebounds for the Seawolves.
"I think the kids are getting better in a lot of aspects," said Donahue. "I thought we moved the ball in the first half but we didn't shoot the ball like I tihnk we're capable of. I think they're a very good basketball team. I think they're as good as it gets in the America East [conference]."
Boston College is off for the next week before resuming play on Dec. 18 against Bryant.
For more BC Basketball coverage, visit our team page and blog, BC Interruption.