Eagles Complete Regular Season Sweep of VT

Boston College had the privilege of being part of the 100th ACC game of the season on Wednesday night.

The Eagles visited Virginia Tech in a rematch of a December 21st matchup BC won by five in overtime. BC has had the Hokies' number as of late, but still, the Eagles came in as massive double-digit underdogs.

That didn't sit well. BC grabbed a 12-point lead at the half and never really looked back except for a late scare en route to an 82-76 victory. Quinten Post led the way with 24 points and 10 rebounds, but it was the 17 points from Chas Kelley III off the bench and the 14 from Devin McGlockton that made the biggest difference. The streaky-shooting Eagles were also 12-24 from beyond the arc while Virginia Tech was just 10-32. BC is now 12-13 on the year (6-8 ACC) while the Hokies dropped to 14-10 overall (4-9 ACC).

“We came in with a passion against these guys,” said Post. “I saw the spread, 13.5 their way, so I don’t know, that kind of sat wrong with me. Last time, we beat them at home and I wasn’t even there. Last year, we beat them too, so I didn’t really understand that. We were just fired up and really wanted to play these guys. We wanted to play physical.”

Post and McGlockton had early buckets for BC, but Virginia Tech jumped out to an 11-4 lead three minutes in. McGlockton buried a corner three in front of the VT bench two minutes later two make it 13-10, but Post missed two free throws coming out of the first media timeout, just his third and fourth misses at the line all season. Jaeden Zackery got hurt in a collision going for a loose ball near mid-court eight minutes in, but both teams went scoreless for four minutes until TJ Bickerstaff hit a wide open layup after a miss, cutting it to one.BC managed to stay within reach without Post, McGlockton or Zackery on the floor until finally the teams finally ended the drought and traded buckets.

Makai Ashton-Langford was fouled on a layup and hit the free throw after a timeout to make it 18-17 with 10:20 left in the half. With Post back on the floor, he missed a dunk after a great dish from Ashton-Langford, but quickly rebounded it and laid it in to tie the game at 20-20. Kelley III gave the Eagles a three-point lead after he buried a trey with 7:40 on the clock. Immediately after the timeout and with word that Zackery was done for the night, Kelley III drained another three, but it was quickly answered with a three-point-play for the Hokies.

Up 26-22, Mason Madsen and Post hit back-to-back deep threes to rapidly give the Eagles a 10-point lead and force a timeout with 4:22 to go. An easy Post layup on another great find from Ashton-Langford and then a three ball from the big man pushed BC’s lead to 37-24 and it was 39-27 at the break. Post finished the first half with 16 points while the bench stepped up, scoring 18. The Hokies were an abysmal 2-13 from three (15%) while BC was 7-15 (47%) and shot 47% overall from the field.

“We just wanted to try and do what we do,” said head coach Earl Grant of BC’s defensive game plan. “We didn’t have a lot of tweaks. It’s February, so you’re going to be guided by your principles. Whoever you are is going to come out…we just try to be physical. Try to be there and make them put it on the floor so they didn’t get rhythm threes. I thought our guys did a good job fighting and just being there on the catch, or the hand offs, being there.”

Kelley’s big night continued with a three to open the second, but the VT offense was in Seinfeld Bizzaro world mode early. On this night though, BC had answers for nearly every bucket. A McGlockton layup and then a three-point play for the big forward pushed the lead to 54-39 five minutes in. The Hokies cut it to 55-47, but Kelley’s fourth three of the night put the Eagles back up by 11 with exactly 11 to go in the game.

Prince Aligbe hit just his ninth three of the season and a Post bucket soon thereafter gave him 20 for the night, helping BC build a 65-50 lead with a little under eight minutes remaining. The cushion was never threatened and a put-back from Post with 3:55 left made it a 72-58 game.

The Hokies put a scare into the Eagles in the final minute with two quick buckets to cut it to 76-69. BC hit two free throws and a layup, but VT continued to make shots and the Eagles saw the lead cut to 80-74 with 37.0 on the clock. Remarkably, it stayed that way until Post fouled out and gave VT two free throws with 18 seconds left, making it just a four-point game. Kelly came up with two clutch free throws and BC ultimately held on.

“Just envision myself in practice,” Kelley III said of his mindset stepping to the line to ice the game. “I always try to tell myself hey it’s cool, it’s just two free throws, you’re at the line by yourself. Let’s knock these two down and let’s go home and win the game.

”It’s nights like these that show what BC basketball can eventually become. Consistency has been the problem though and the Eagles will have another shot to show they can beat some of the best teams in the ACC when No. 22 NC State visits on Saturday for a noon tip off.

“It’s a pursuit,” added Grant. “Every time you put on the jersey and tie the sneakers, you want to try and go after it pretty hard. With a young team like ours, sometimes you just don’t know how they’re going to respond in different environments, but the guys are playing hard. They’re playing together, they’re being unselfish. So, we’re trying to become a good team and we’re trying to become a good program. There’s a process to get to that, but I thought today was a good step in the right direction.”