Josh Scovens scored 12 points and undefeated Davidson relied mostly on defense to defeat Boston College 59-49 in the opening round of the Charleston Classic on Friday in Charleston, S.C.
Davidson’s reserves, led by Devin Brown with nine points, racked up 33 points to make a huge difference. The Wildcats (5-0) shot just 5-for-20 on 3-pointers, with the starters going 1-for-8 from beyond the arc.
Donald Hand Jr. scored 14 points, Jayden Hastings posted 11 points and Fred Payne had 10 points, but Boston College’s two-game winning streak ended.
The Eagles (3-3) were 3-for-21 on 3-pointers, so their 36-25 advantage in rebounding didn’t pay off. Hastings had a game-high 10 rebounds.
Davidson will meet Utah State, a 96-75 winner against Tulane, in Sunday’s final. Boston College will face Tulane in the consolation game.
Boston College, which received five points from its bench players, also was hurt by 8-for-14 shooting on free throws in a game when points were at a premium. The Eagles were charged with 14 turnovers — twice as many as the Wildcats.
Davidson, playing in its first neutral-court game of the season, was slow to get on track. The Wildcats trailed early but held a 33-31 halftime lead.
Davidson widened the lead to 40-34 as the Eagles went through a stretch of more than two minutes without scoring.
A more painful drought for the Eagles came later when they went 4 1/2 minutes without scoring.
Brown scored the final five points of Davidson’s 7-0 run as the lead grew to 51-41 on his 3-pointer with less than eight minutes to play.
By the time Hastings scored a putback to end another span of about 2 1/2 minutes without a Boston College point, there was only about two minutes to play and the Eagles still trailed by 10.
