CHESTNUT HILL - Laurent Rivard caught fire from the floor, scoring 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field and 4-of-8 shooting from three-point range to lead the No. 23/24 Harvard Crimson to a 67-46 blowout win over the in-town rival Boston College Eagles on Thursday night.
Boston College (5-8) had its three-game winning streak snapped and has now lost its last four in a row against Harvard. The Crimson improved to 11-1 on the season and have won their last three games after losing to No. 9 UConn.
"I just thought we lost our way offensively in the second half," said BC head coach Steve Donahue, whose Eagles were outscored 27-13 in the final twenty minutes. "They battled really hard defensively for long stretches. I think it was a six points game and we miss a layup, they come down and hit a couple shots and it seems every time we shoot ourselves in the foot offensively, and they took advantage of it."
Patrick Heckmann had a solid bounce back performance, leading the team with 13 points, five rebounds and five assists. Dennis Clifford finished with 14 points and two rebounds while Jordan Daniels totaled nine points for the Eagles. BC made 18-of-44 field goals to shoot 40.9 percent and was 3-for-11 from three-point range. In addition, BC finished with 22 rebounds, nine assists, six blocks and two steals to go along with 17 turnovers.
"Defensively, I thought we did a very good job pretty much most of the game," Donahue said. "Silly things that young teams do -- you let Corbin Miller get open with no one who's guarding him, bad communication. But [the problem] was offense in the second half for sure. [Harvard's] a very good basketball team and they take advantage of it."
Corbin Miller finished with 12 points and Brandyn Curry added 11 points, five assists and five steals for Harvard, which made 22-of-53 field goals to shoot 41.5 percent from the floor while draining 10-of-20 threes in the victory. Christian Webster added 10 points and Keith Wright finished with eight points and 11 rebounds for the Crimson.
BC opened the game with a 10-3 run in the first four minutes, but Harvard patiently worked its way back into the game and took a 40-33 lead into the break. The Eagles kept the game close for most of the second half, but were held to three points in the final 8:32 of the game while the Crimson scored 12 points.
"I'm conscious of it, but I try not to worry about it" Clifford said about the team's offensive struggles in the second half of most games. "I know personally I just try to get the guys going. I think as we mature as a team and individually, we should get that out of our way. We should be able to go down every time and get a good shot on offense."
Boston College returns to action on Jan. 2 when it hosts Rhode Island at 1 p.m. EDT. Harvard will host St. Joseph's on Saturday, Dec. 41 at 4 p.m. at Lavietes Pavillion in Boston.
For more BC Basketball coverage, visit our team page and blog, BC Interruption.