Part of the growing process for a young, inexperienced team is learning how to close out games. Or, learning how to keep the foot on the gas when you’ve got a big lead.

Boston College had to go through both scenarios on Saturday afternoon.

For the first 18 minutes in its game with Florida State, the Eagles had unequivocally the best offensive performance of the season and it looked like BC was going to run Florida State out of its own gym.

The Eagles couldn’t miss, a rarity for this year’s team. However, BC allowed the Seminoles to cut an 18-point deficit to 11 in the final two minutes before the half. That momentum carried over into the second and the Eagles narrowly escaped an epic collapse despite turning the ball over 21 times, holding on for a 75-69 win.BC (13-15, 7-10) got its first win in Tallahassee since 2007. Quinten Post led the way with 21 points and five rebounds. He also went 5-5 from three in the first half as BC hit eight of 13 from beyond the arc and were 12-22 from the field while building a 38-27 lead at the break.

“We’re trying to move our program in the right direction. Guys are playing hard and really competing. I’m just happy for the players, they’re moving our program in the right direction,” said head coach Earl Grant. “We’re playing with a lot of energy and I’m just glad we got the win. I didn’t know it was 15 years (since winning at FSU). Just happy we got the win.”As for the 21 turnovers, Grant believed it was a combination of things.

“Florida State does a really good job of denying and switching,” he said. “They lead the league in turnovers forced and blocked shots, so I knew coming in that was an area they had a lot of strength in because they’re so long and they pressure and deny. I thought we had mismatches in the first half with (Post) so we were trying to throw it inside. We did a good job getting it in, but sometimes I thought we force fed it. Some of it was penetration.

"Maybe we took one dribble too many and should have kicked it, but I’m glad we were able to overcome it.”

This one was a bit wild as the teams also combined for a whopping 69 free throw attempts. The Eagles were 29-35 while FSU was 30-34. Devin McGlockton (16 points, seven rebounds, two blocks) was huge off the bench and also went 10-10 at the line. Jaeden Zackery was 6-6 at the charity stripe.

BC sprinted out of the gates, building leads of 8-2, 17-9 and 21-9 with nine minutes left in the first half. A three from Prince Aligbe pushed the Eagles lead to 27-11 as the unrecognizable offensive output from BC continued. The ball movement was phenomenal and eventually the lead ballooned to 33-17. The Eagles led 38-20 late in the half, but a run from FSU - all at the free throw line - made things more manageable heading into the break.

Slowly but surely, the offense went quiet, BC continued to turn the ball over and Florida State chipped away, making it a 46-42 game with about 10 minutes left. The Eagles maintained their slight edge, but Post fouled out with 3:31 remaining and BC only up 58-53. Luckily for BC, Florida State shot an abysmal 31% from the field (18-59) and couldn’t fully take advantage of the Eagles’ inability to close the game strong.

Three free throws from McGlockton (2) and Aligbe made it 69-62. From there, the officials made sure to get their TV time as players paraded to the free throw line. FSU refused to go away, hitting a three with three seconds left with the score at 73-69. Aligbe hit two final free throws to end the near three hour marathon game.

“I think it disrupted the rhythm of the game and disrupted our flow, especially in the second half,” Post said of all the foul calls. “We were just fouling too much. I fouled out, Makai fouled out, so that was really rough. I think it shows our character though. The guys that ere in the game stuck with it and it was just a grind, man…sometimes you play a game like this and you’ve got to tough it out.”

So, what did FSU do in the second half to make things so interesting?

“They started to be in the gaps a little more,” added Post. “Originally, they’re a denial team. I don’t think we adapted to that or responded to that too well. We had too many turnovers where we would just try to drive it and now instead of denying, they’re in the gaps. Then, second of all, in the first half, what we didn’t do…in the first half, we did a really good job of rolling me in the post, creating help side on the back cut and then we swung it to the other side, creating mismatches and flow kind of. The second half, I thought we played too many one-on-one basketball and didn’t let the offense come to us. I think that’s kind of the reason.”