CHESTNUT HILL – SMU forward Matt Cross is a fifth-year senior competing for his fourth Division 1 program and third in the ACC
The coveted 6-7, 230-pound Beverly official felt the hometown love on the hardwood at the Conte Forum on Saturday afternoon, leading the Mustangs to a 103-77 victory over Boston College. Cross’ father, Jim, bused in a North Shore 40-plus cheering section to the game.
Cross gave his supporters plenty of opportunities to express their approval. He logged 32 minutes and scored 20 points with eight rebounds and three assists.
Cross shot 7 of 9 from the floor and 3 of 3 from behind the arc.
Donald Hand Jr. led BC with 22 points followed by Dion Brown with 20.
“I was trying to focus on the game, but I saw them, I heard them,” Cross said. “It’s just one of those things, you want to play well in your hometown, but sometimes you have to put it aside whether it’s going well or not.
“My teammates were playing with me because they heard a few people in the stands calling my name.”
Cross finished his school career at Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, NH before taking the long and winding road to Dallas.
Cross began his college career at Miami before transferring to Louisville. He played the last two campaigns at UMass, where he was a first-team All-Atlantic 10 selection last season.
“I didn’t know who Matt Cross was until we got the SMU job in the spring,” Mustangs coach Andy Enfield said. “We saw Matt’s name on the portal and did a bit of research on him and watched him play.
“He was a tough, very smart young man with a high IQ on the court. At UMass he played for a great coach, Frank Martin, and we thought he would be a great fit here at SMU in our first year “.
The Eagles fell to 7-5 overall, 0-2 in the ACC, with two upcoming games at home. BC plays its final non-league contest against Fairleigh-Dickinson on Dec. 28 and resumes ACC play against Miami on New Year’s Day.
SMU, which is competing in its first year in the ACC, improved to 9-1 overall and 2-0 in league play.
The Mustangs are long and skinny up front, so it was a bad game for the Eagles not to have the paint. BC was reduced considerably when 6-9, 270-pound center Chad Venning suffered a nagging back injury in practice.
The St. Bonaventure graduate transfer dressed and saw limited action, playing 11 minutes with five points and one rebound. Venning had averaged 11.5 points and 3.8 rebounds in 25.2 minutes per game and was replaced in the starting lineup by redshirt freshman Jayden Hastings.
“He makes a big impact not only with his size, but he soaks up the defense and is good at rebounding,” said Brown, a UMBC transfer. “There’s so much we don’t have when he’s not playing, so he made a big difference in our style of play.”
BC scored from all corners of the court from the first tip and led 14-12 at the first half timeout. BC held its lead and took a 21-13 lead when power forward Elijah Strong converted a 3-pointer with 13:04 to play.
The Mustangs cut into BC’s lead and took their first lead, 22-21, on a key 3-pointer by senior guard Chuck Harris with 9:05 to play.
SMU stayed in control and went on a 16-7 run to go up 38-28 with 4:21 on the clock. Cross scored 17 in the first 20 minutes to give SMU a 47-40 halftime lead.
“For the most part, we did a good job of keeping them out of transition and a big key was keeping them in the half court,” BC coach Earl Grant said.
SMU held onto its slender lead early in the second half and took a 58-53 lead into the first halftime timeout. Brown scored on back-to-back layups to lead 60-57 with 14:52 to play.
SMU took its second double-digit lead, 78-67, on a layup by Keon Ambrose-Hylton with 8:08 to play. SMU went up 90-69 on a Jerrell Colbert layup with 4:48 to play.
“It got away from us in a four-minute stretch where they showed great explosiveness and we forced things and it just kept bleeding,” Grant said.