CHESTNUT HILL - Christmas was going to be a good time no matter what for BC head coach Earl Grant, but now, his birthday is going to be a little better too.

Boston College stunned No. 21 Virginia Tech 70-65 in overtime on Wednesday night in Conte Forum. For Grant - who’s birthday is on Christmas - a win with 10 days off now sure beats having to sit on a loss until New Year’s Eve.

“It beats the alternative, put it that way,” Grant said postgame after the win moved BC to 7-6 overall and 1-1 in ACC play. Virginia Tech dropped to 11-2 and 1-1 in the ACC.“I was going to enjoy my family, enjoy my sons and my wife and Christmas regardless, my birthday’s on Christmas. I was going to enjoy that regardless, but it sure does beat the alternative to have that many days before your next game with a win.”

With 16:38 to play in the game, a layup from Makai Ashton-Langford (21 points, 7 rebounds) put BC up 33-32. The teams traded buckets back and forth until a dunk from Devin McGlockton (18 points, 7 rebounds) made it 39-38.McGlockton was a problem all night long down low for the Hokies, especially in big moments. After a stop, Ashton-Langford completed a three-point play to push the lead to 42-38. Virginia Tech continued to bounce back, tying the game u[ at 44-44 with a 9:40 to go.

A runner off the glass from Armani Mighty put BC up 48-44, the Hokies made another mini run and then back-to-back defensive stops turned into offense and layups from McGlockton and CJ Penha Jr. to make it 53-48 with under seven minutes to play. The Eagles managed to up the lead to 57-48 with less than five to play, but VT turned up the heat on defense while BC seemingly couldn’t buy a bucket for a few possessions. Eventually, the lead dwindled down to one when a Sean Medulla three-ball cut it to 57-56. The Hokies reclaimed a 59-57 advantage when Grant Basile buried a three from the top of they key and 1:42 remaining.

Ashton-Langford hit a runner with 32.8 seconds left to tie the game at 59-59, but Virginia Tech had a few great looks late that rimmed out, sending the game to OT. The opening two minutes of the five-minute frame were scoreless until McGlockton muscled his way in for a layup off a nice feed from Jaeden Zackery (6 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds) and a fade away jumper by DeMarr Langford Jr pushed it to 63-61.

The Eagles were just 3-for-19 on the night shooting three pointers (VT was just 5-for-20), but arguably the biggest shot of the game came from Ashton-Langford when he drilled a deep three for a 66-61 lead with 35 seconds to play. Defense, rebounding and free throws sealed the deal late before the bench stormed the floor, jumping, high-fiving and hugging after the stunning win.

“That was a big time win,” said Ashton-Langford. “I had a couple when I played at (Providence), Big East tournament type thing, and then obviously here we played in the ACC tournament, but (Wednesday night’s win) is up there for sure.”

Virginia Tech led 30-25 at halftime and had chances to pull away earlier, but never could. The Hokies led 14-10, 17-10, 18-13, 20-18 and 26-22 at various times throughout the first 20 minutes before building a 30-22 cushion, but the Eagles found a way to hang around. One of the most underrated buckets of the game after the wild finish was a three by Prince Aligbe at the buzzer to turn an eight-point deficit to just five at the break.

Now, this young Eagles team has a signature win to fall back on when they face adversity throughout the rest of the year. Fans may not believe in this team yet, but that’s ok with Grant, he’s got his eyes on March.

After the birthday and Christmas celebrations, of course.

“We’re trying to build,” Grant added. “We’re trying to build, we’ve got a lot of young guys, a lot of new guys, so we haven’t…I think we’ve had some heartaches and disappointments this year. Playing young guys 30 minutes and having setbacks with injuries, but I think what it does is it just gets them to continue to believe in the system that we’re trying to instill.”