Full house watches BC pull off shocker
Fans of the Boston College Eagles enjoyed their storm-the-court moment with a 63-48 upset victory over No. 6 Virginia before a packed house on Wednesday night at Conte Forum.
“I felt like it was a dream come true,” said BC sophomore guard Jaeden Zackery. “When you are a little kid you always think about beating a ranked team and watching them storm the court so it was a special moment for us and this program.”
The signature victory of second-year coach Earl Grant’s tenure generated some firsts for a program that hadn’t enjoyed many in recent years. BC (14-15, 8-10) secured its third win over a ranked opponent in a season since 2008-09 and the first over a Top 10 since the Eagles beat No. 1 Duke on Dec. 9, 2017. BC also recorded it eighth conference win for the first time since 2010-11 and avenged a 76-57 loss at Virginia on Jan. 28.
“I am just happy for the students, happy for BC nation,” said Grant. “This is a very proud program and we’ve been working hard and the fans have shown up through the ups and downs. The fans deserved it and our players deserved it for how hard they have been working the last month.”
The Eagles were not pushovers against ranked ACC opponents at Conte earlier in the season. Boston College dispatched No. 20 Virginia Tech and No. 20 Clemson and missed a last second shot in a one-point loss to No. 16 Duke on Jan. 7. No. 22 NC State broke BC’s competitive run with a 92-62 mismatch on Feb. 11.
“You can honestly say the program is going up,” said Zackery, who finished with 12 points. “Coming in against ranked teams, that motivates us more and honestly we don’t have anything to lose.”
BC shot 52% from the floor with 36 rebounds and 14 assists. Guard Makai Ahshton-Langford led the Eagles with 16 while center Quinten Post netted eight with six boards.
After falling behind 4-0, BC went on a 9-0 run and led 9-6 into the first media timeout. Post led the surge with two plays in the paint while Jayden Gardner scored the Cavs’ half dozen.
Virginia made a brief surge, but the Eagles countered with a reverse on the baseline by DeMarr Langford and a pullup jumper by Mason Madsen to tie the game at 13-all into the second media timeout.
Both camps employed asphyxiating perimeter defenses that limited dribble penetration and open looks from downtown. BC broke free with a 6-0 spurt that included two plays at the rim by Ashton-Langford to go up 21-15 into the third media timeout.
BC went up 26-17 on an off-balance trey by AshtonLangford at the end of the shot clock and a baseline drive Langford with 2:40 to play. BC led 28-21 at the intermission.
BC opened the second half with a brief spurt to go up 34-25 into the first media timeout. BC took a 40-28 lead on a floater by Langford with 13:52 to play. Zackery brought the crowd energy to nuclear with a drive through traffic and a 3-ball to give the Eagles a 49-37 lead with 7:55 to play.
“I am glad I took it upon myself to take shots when I’m open and I hit them,” said Zackery.
BC went up 57-43 on two plays at the rim by Devin McGlockton and Langford. Ashton-Langford applied the dagger with a 3-ball with under a minute to play.