BOSTON - The Hartford men's basketball team dropped its final non-conference game, 94-60, of the season at Boston College on Wednesday night. The Hawks couldn't control the Eagles offense, which shot a season best 69 percent (33-of-48) from the field, including a 70 percent first half effort. Hartford drops to 9-13 overall, while the Eagles improve to 15-6 in 2006-07.
The Eagles finished with the second highest output of the season for a Hawks opponent, while also putting 14 three pointers through the hoop, a season high. Five players finished in double digits for the Eagles, with Jared Dudley leading all scorers. He finished with 21 points on a perfect 8-of-8 shooting, including three triples. He also added a team best eight rebounds.
The Eagles also won the battle of the boards by a 34-26 advantage. Hartford was led by Alex Zimnickas, who finished with 12 points on 6-of-12 from the field. The Hawks finished the game shooting 36.1 percent from the field on 22-of-61. Zimnickas also led the Hawks rebounding efforts with eight, tying his career high. The game was the fourth of the season that Zimnickas has led the team (or tied for the team lead).
Boston College couldn't miss in the first half, connecting on 19-of-27 from the field, a season best (70.4 percent) in the first half for a Hawks opponent. The Eagles also capitalized from the outside where they hit eight of their 14 attempts for 57.1 percent. Defensively, the Eagles held the Hawks to 39.3 percent from the floor (11-of-28). Hartford was led by Joe Zeglinski, who finished with eight points on 3-of-6 shooting, including a pair of three pointers.
Dudley led the Eagles with a perfect first half 5-of-5 shooting including a 2-of-2 effort from beyond the arc. He also added four rebounds and three assists, finishing with 13 points, the only player to finish in double figures.
The Hawks never led in the first half and would be as close as a point only one time. The Eagles opened up with the first six points of the game before the Hawks scored the next five on a layup form Bo Taylor and a three pointer from Zeglinski. Boston College wasn't going to let the Hawks get into a rhythm, quickly extending its lead to double digits with 9:11 to play in the half, and as much as 18 with just over two minutes to play before the break.
The Eagles quickly returned to their first half ways, extending the lead to 31 with 12:58 to play in the game. The Eagles scored 21 of the first 29 points of the half to put the game away early. Boston College's biggest lead of the game came with 4:35 to play, 86-50, on a three pointer from Daye Kaba.
The Hawks will return to Boston for a single game on Saturday, when they return to America East action at Boston University. The Hawks and Terriers are scheduled to tip-off at 1:00 p.m.
