Karnik, Ashton-Langford Pilot Dramatic Win Against Virginia Tech

Jaeden Zackery was on the break with the ball in his hands at the game’s turning point against Virginia Tech. The Boston College men’s basketball point guard had been there before—10 days prior versus Georgia Tech.

With the chance to steal the lead from the Yellow Jackets with under two minutes left, Zackery went up strong with his right hand. But the layup attempt bounced out and, despite some contact from guard Mike Devoe, no whistle was blown. GT hit the would-be dagger on the other end.

Saturday afternoon, Zackery switched hands.

The 2020-21 third-team JUCO All-American went up with his right and then turned to his left, dipping underneath Virginia Tech forwards Keve Aluma and Justyn Mutts.

The shot fell, pushing BC’s lead to 66-63. Zackery finished, and so did the Eagles, who iced the game at the line to clinch a 68-63 win, their second victory in their last three games.

Zackery made the biggest basket of the game, but he wasn’t in the spotlight for BC (8-9, 3-4 ACC). That place belonged to center James Karnik and two guard Makai Ashton-Langford, who combined for 44 points in the Eagles’ third straight win over Mike Young’s Hokies (10-8, 2-5).

Three days removed from fouling out with one point in 11 minutes at Louisville, Karnik piled up a career-high 26 points on 10-of-12 shooting, flexing on Virginia Tech off the pick-and-roll.

“Right now with James, how aggressive he’s been in the post, it makes teams try to double team,” Ashton-Langford said. “There’s always an advantage when there’s a double team.”

Ashton-Langford capitalized, attacking the open floor, both inside and out. He was rewarded with 18 points—his fourth 18-plus-point performance in the last five games.

Things weren’t so smooth for the Eagles in the early going, though. Actually, it was pretty ugly. BC, which was without sharpshooter Brevin Galloway (knee), started the first half 1-of-7 from the field.

Through eight minutes and 15 seconds of action, the Eagles’ lone field goal was a thunderous, one-handed dunk from DeMarr Langford Jr. The Eagles were handicapped by turnovers. They had six of them in that span, the final two of which led to back-to-back scoring opportunities for the Hokies, including a Darius Maddox slam.

Keve Aluma, Virginia Tech’s leading scorer, fittingly carried the torch for Young’s squad. He mounted a quick 10 points, even knocking down a 3-pointer with Karnik easing off him. Soon after, he got Karnik to foul on a turnaround hook, which fell, too. As did the subsequent free throw, and the Hokies were up, 20-10.

“I knew that offensive pace was going to kind of be a shock,” said first-year Eagles head coach Earl Grant, who noted his experience playing against Young’s Wofford teams when he was an assistant coach at Winthrop in the mid-2000s. “Once we settled in, we were able to hunker down and be able to be stingy on defense.”

Cue a 10-4 Eagles run. It was a stretch that saw BC convert three consecutive field goal attempts, including an and-one Karnik finish through a David N’Guessan foul.

The offensive mojo kept going for the Eagles, who ended the half 8-of-10 from the floor. Ashton-Langford dialed up back-to-back jumpers down the stretch, helping BC pull within two points of Virginia Tech, which took a 33-31 lead into the break.

Part of BC’s scoring success could be attributed to the fact that Aluma and Mutts—both of whom had two personal fouls—had to sit for the final six-plus minutes of the frame.

The teams traded buckets at the beginning of the second period. It was the theme of the half, really. BC and Virginia Tech shot north of 45% in the closing 20 minutes of regulation.

Karnik explained postgame that the Hokies were late on switches inside, especially following screens. It freed him up in the paint, and his guards found him. That was certainly the case when he threw down a two-handed flush to give the Eagles their first lead of the game, a 35-33 advantage. Not too long after that, the Lehigh transfer eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for his career with a 3-pointer.

Close to the midway point of the second half, BC built a tiny cushion, thanks to Ashton-Langford. The athletic veteran beat the shot clock with a triple and then took the rock to the cup on the next possession.

“If I don’t shoot, they’ll get mad at me,” Ashton-Langford said, in reference to his teammates.

The tail end of that mini 5-0 run was made possible by a TJ Bickerstaff block of Mutts. Bickerstaff finished with seven points, 10 rebounds, four assists, two blocks and one steal. He did all of the little things, like crashing the offensive glass.

It was infectious. BC recorded 16 offensive boards, the most of any Virginia Tech opponent this season. And the Eagles ended up with 10 second-chance points, two of which came on a Langford jumper. It was the first of two BC responses to a pair of Hunter Cattoor 3-pointers.

Karnik was responsible for the second, which maintained the Eagles’ advantage.

Virginia Tech guard Nahiem Alleyne knotted everything up at 61-61 with 4:23 to go, courtesy of a floater off the glass and a swishing 3-pointer.

After Bickerstaff went 1-of-2 at the line, Zackery and Storm Murphy traded layups. Neither team scored for the next 102 seconds. At one point, BC had five looks at the basket on possession because of four straight offensive rebounds.

But after two consecutive long-range misses from the Hokies, Bickerstaff pushed the ball in transition, and Zackery cashed in at the rim.

Then it was Bickerstaff’s turn. He netted the game-sealing free throws, and the Eagles notched their third ACC victory of the season.

Grant’s team, one that was dead last in the ACC preseason poll, is ahead of six teams in the league standings. More importantly, it’s a group that finally knows how to finish.