Robinson scores 22 points; BC holds off Stony Brook, 82-75
BOSTON (AP) — Jerome Robinson found his shooting spot in the first half, sending Boston College on its way to a strong start. That was enough to carry the Eagles to the victory.
Robinson scored 15 of his career-high 22 points in the opening half and Boston College held off a late charge for an 82-75 win over Stony Brook on Sunday.
“He’s our most creative player,” BC coach Jim Christian said. “He understands when he gets in the lane he usually makes good decisions with the ball.”
Robinson was 6 for 10 from the floor in the opening half and finished 8 of 17 in the game.
“Mid-range, it’s something I just grew up doing,” he said of his shooting.
Nik Popovic scored 13 points and A.J. Turner had 12 for the Eagles (2-1). Robinson added eight rebounds.
Tyrell Sturdivant led Stony Brook (0-2) with a career-high 26 points and seven rebounds.
The Eagles opened big leads in both halves, but struggled in the closing minutes.
“Our team doesn’t have a big margin for error,” Stony Brook first-year coach Jeff Boals said. “Every possession has to matter.”
Stony Brook trailed by 18 with 7½ minutes to play, but closed it to 74-70 on Sturdivant’s 3-point play with 54 seconds to play.
Robinson had two key free throws, making it 78-72 with 38.3 seconds left.
BC shot 65.4 percent and led 46-30 at halftime.
Leading 20-14 midway into the opening half, BC took charge by going on 15-4 spree over the next 3:27. Robinson triggered the run with a 3-point play and scored the first five points before Turner had the last five, closing with a 3-pointer from the left corner.
The Eagles pushed it to 44-21 on Robinson’s alley-oop dunk before Stony Brook scored the final seven points of the half.
BIG PICTURE
Stony Brook: The Seawolves are working in five newcomers and two redshirt freshman before America East play. Last season, they won the conference tournament and earned their first-ever NCAA tourney berth as a Division 1 team.
Boston College: The Eagles looked like a much more confident team at the beginning after getting their first victory since last December. They went deep into the bench in the opening half and had a number of players make contributions.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“In the first half we looked like the Mannequin Challenge,” Boals said of his team’s defense. “We were just stationary. They got what they wanted, whenever they wanted it.”
POUND IT INSIDE
BC seemed intent on driving to the basket most of the opening half, collecting 24 points in the paint. Robinson did most of the work, driving into the lane for three consecutive baskets, one that led to a 3-point play.
They finished the game outscoring Stony Brook, 34-20 in the paint.
“We were getting a lot of stops in the first half so we had transition opportunities,” Christian said. “In the second half we played poor defense so we didn’t get a lot of transition opportunities.”
UP NEXT
Stony Brook: The Seawolves are at Maryland on Tuesday in the second of three straight on the road to open the season.
Boston College: Closes out a season-opening four-game homestand against Towson on Tuesday.