Men's basketball blows another opportunity against Florida State

Time’s ticking.

BC dropped its 11th ACC game of the year on Tuesday night, losing (SCORE) on the road against Florida State in another deja vu type of night that saw the Eagles blow it down the stretch.

Now 9-17 and 2-11 in the ACC with five games left, the idea of missing the ACC tournament for a second straight year is very real.

Here’s how things went if you weren’t watching…

Fast start early

Shots were falling early for BC. The Eagles have been really bad shooting the ball most of the season – especially from three – but for the first five minutes, Luka Toews hit two threes and Fred Payne had one with five points.

Another Toews three and an emphatic dunk by Aidan Shaw eventually helped pushed BC to a 10-0 run and a 15-8 lead with 13 minutes left in the half. Chase Forte’s back-to-back three made it 21-8 and BC was suddenly on fire like NBA JAM back in the day, 5-7 from beyond the arc with 11 minutes remaining in the first 20.

FSU makes a run, but BC continues to make shots

BC went a bit cold, while Florida State got some stops and made it 22-15 before another thunderous Shaw dunk. After an FSU floater in the lane, Forte knocked down a bank-three to push the lead back to 10 with eight minutes left. Payne followed a stop up with another three of his own and just like that, the Eagles were back up by 13.

Shaw had an and-one lay up heading into a timeout with 7:43 to go and BC up 32-19, but missed the free throw coming out of the break. Shaw’s third wide open dunk of the half with six minutes to go made it 34-20.

Final 5

As the clock wound down to the final five minutes and change of the half, things started to go South for the Eagles. The Seminoles got a couple key blocks and got to the line, getting it back down under 10 at 34-25. It eventually got down to 35-27 as we hit the three minute mark.

An aggressive defensive rebound from Shaw – who was BC’s best all around player in the half – led to a wide open three for Forte to make it 38-27. The Seminoles went ice cold missing several threes (1-12 from the field at one point late in the half), while Kapke muscled his way to a bucket for a 40-27 lead.

A missed alley-oop by Shaw turned into a fast break basket for FSU. Toews answered with a runner in the last 35 seconds. The Seminoles hit a rainbow corner three and BC held for the last shot, which was a missed heave from three by Toews.

The Eagles led 42-32 at the half. Payne had 13 points (3-4 from three). Shaw had eight and four rebounds and Toews had eight points (2-5 from three). As a team, the Eagles put up the most points in a half they have all season while shooting 50% from the field (16-32) and 8-12 (67%) from three.

First 5 of the 2nd half

It wasn’t pretty at times, but BC maintained a 52-42 lead thanks to some aggressive offensive rebounding, hustle on the defensive end and a few dimes by Toews, who looked as confident as he has all season with Donald Hand Jr. still out.

Next few minutes a bit bumpy

Forte went to the bench with 3 fouls, but Payne had a phenomenal steal and Toews knocked down a jumper seconds after. A three-point play for FSU cut it under 10 for the first time since the 4:07 mark of the first half, now at 54-45 with 13 minutes left. Kapke soon went to the bench with four fouls and FSU was in a position to shoot free throws the rest of the way.

Just before a media timeout at 11:55 and FSU’s eighth turnover, freshman Caleb Steger buried a three to make it a 12-point game again. The Eagles went cold until a great handoff from Forte to Jayden Hastings down low for a dunk made it 61-49 with nine minutes left. The assist was the 17th of the night for BC, their most of the season.

The lead was trimmed to 61-54 with just over seven minutes to play as the three point shooting completely dried up.

Uh oh…

A three-point play with 7:26 left made it just 61-57 with the Seminoles on a 12-2 run. Forte immediately responded with a three-point play of his own, except he missed the free throw – a huge story on the night, making the Eagles 2-12 at that point.

After an FSU bucket, Kapke came back with 6:30 remaining, Forte turned it over and a three stunningly cut it to one. Payne had an answer with a floater to push it back to three just ahead of the five minute mark.

Final 5

Just as the clock ticked under five, Chase Forte had a fast break all alone off a missed three rebound and he was fouled hitting the layup. Forte made the free throw to make it 68-63. Shaw thought he had a block on the other end, but it was a goaltending call.

A missed Payne three and made three on the other end knotted things up at 68-68 with 3:40 remaining. Forte missed a three and Kapke missed a layup on a full one minute possession. FSU got a put-back and-one fplay rom Lajae Jones with 2:33 left. He missed the free throw and Payne hit a fall away to tie it at 70 apiece.

FSU answered with a three as the clock ticked down to 1:30 and under…Toews tried a scoop shot in the lane – he may have been trying to dish it off – and was stripped. The Seminoles added an easy layup from Robert McCray (27 points) with 51 seconds left to make it a five-point deficit for BC.

Final minute

Kapke chucked up a deep three that was off by quite a bit. McCray went 1-2 at the line. Kapke missed another layup, Shaw missed the put-back and and then Kapke fouled out with 23.3 seconds to go. Two more FSU free throws made it 78-70. Payne hit a quick runner and Earl Grant called timeout with 16.3 remaining.

FSU knocked down two free throws and Toews missed a three as the clock hit zero and BC lost in ugly fashion, 80-72.

The Eagles finished 29-63 (46%) from the field and 11-24 from three (46%) after hitting 8 in the first half. BC was an abysmal 3-13 from the line and got significantly out-rebounded, 42-30.