The Cayman Islands Classic curse continued on Saturday.

BC hung tough with Wake Forest in the ACC opener for both teams, but the Eagles ultimately fell 72-66. BC is now 6-4 overall having lost three straight games since the wild, pulse-pounding wins to capture the Thanksgiving week tournament.

Elijah Strong had 18 points and four rebounds to lead BC while Donald Hand Jr. added 13, eight rebounds and three assists. As a team, BC shot 37% from the field (21-57) and 40% from three (12-30). The biggest story though was the difference in free throws. Wake Forest attempted 34 while the Eagles had just 14. The Demon Deacons also had a 24-11 points off turnovers advantage.

Down 66-64 with 2:00 left, Josh Beadle missed a layup to tie the game. Wake grabbed the rebound and called timeout with 1:40 left before knocking down a shot. Strong hit two free throws of his own to make it 68-66 Wake.

BC trapped on the inbounds and Fred Payne came up with a steal, but he missed the front end of a 1-and-1. The Demon Deacons grabbed that rebound and hit two more at the line to push it to 70-66 with less than 30 seconds left. After two more Wake free throws, Strong jacked up a three that was an air ball. Wake collected that rebound and dribbled out the rest of the clock.

Here's what Earl Grant had to say postgame:

On the importance of ACC play after getting blown out by South Carolina this week

"You know, good question...I thought...obviously, we didn't win the (SEC/ACC challenge). They got the best of us. But, the ACC is a great league. We all know that. Obviously, every year, we've got really good teams making runs in the NCAA tournament. That's all I can say about that...you've gotta do well in-conference. It's all relative, right? You say 'hey, we want to get nine teams in the ACC into the NCAA tournament...we want to get six teams...we want to get seven...whatever. It's all relative. We're all going to get into the ACC. We're all going to be competing against each other and it'll balance itself out."

On getting to within two with a few chances to tie it and what the biggest problem was not getting over that hump

"The whistle blew and they went to the free throw line and the whistle didn't blow and we didn't go to the free throw line."

On what the plan is with 8 days off before game against Stonehill

"Rest. Go try to do well on the exams. Try to do individual player skill development and figure out what's the best things we need to do offensively and defensively to improve.'

On what was working for BC from the three-point line

"I mean, it's simple. We were doing what we practice. Guys were sharing the ball, being unselfish. We've got a really good shooting team. We want to take 25-30 threes every night. So, we've shot it well a lot this season and tonight was another one of those nights. But, I thought just the unselfishness, the ball movement and we just tried to execute the plan we came into the game with."

On the late game press defense working and if it's something they work on

"No, we press. We did press a lot throughout the game, different presses. But, late, that was just something we did...we needed to get the ball back, so we went to it. Fred came up with a big play, a big steal. DJ rotated, so he took away one pass and then Fred got the steal. So, we had guys in position. We knew what we were looking for. Unfortunately, Fred...he didn't knock down the free throws, but we had a chance right there to push this game into overtime."