Boston College basketball’s upset bid of No. 7 Duke falls short

One way or another, this was going to be a different Boston College team than the one that had last seen Duke a little more than a month ago.

Finally fully healthy again since bringing Nik Popovic back into the fold a couple weeks ago, the Eagles were feeling good fresh off a road victory against North Carolina over the weekend. And after a 39-point drubbing at the hands of the Blue Devils on New Year’s Eve in Durham, BC came into Tuesday night’s rematch motivated and hungry.

Still, it wasn’t quite enough.

Backed by a packed and loud Conte Forum, the Eagles were ready for the test. Two years after Duke last visited Chestnut Hill, where BC took down the the top-ranked visitors, the Eagles were primed for another upset, but it ultimately fell short in a 63-55 loss to the No. 7 Blue Devils.

BC (11-12, 5-7 ACC) led for stretches Tuesday night, but the Eagles saw a late 49-46 lead quickly wither as Duke (19-3, 9-2) turned on the jets and pulled away for the victory. The Blue Devils led by as many as eight in the final minutes as the Eagles pulled within five, but Duke, led by Tre Jones’ 18 points and Vernon Carey’s 17 points and 10 rebounds, closed the door.

Derryck Thornton led the Eagles with 21 points.

Neither BC or Duke gave an inch in the second half, and at times it seemed like the teams were just trading baskets. Nik Popovic hit the game’s first 3-pointer — the 27th combined attempt — with 11:18 to go in the second half to give the Eagles a 39-38 lead before Javin DeLaurier’s layup regained the lead for Duke, but Thornton responded with four consecutive points.

Joey Baker converted an and-1 to tie the game at 43 before Jay Heath’s driving layup and a putback by Steffon Mitchell gave the Eagles some separation at 47-43, forcing Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski to call a timeout as Conte Forum reached a fever pitch. Baker brought the Blue Devils back within one with a 3 from the corner, and after a bucket from Jairus Hamilton, Vernon Carey scored four straight points to give Duke back the lead.

BC seemed more than motivated to avenge its 39-point loss to Duke in Durham in the opening minutes. Led by aggressive defense and fueled by a lively Conte Forum crowd, the Eagles jumped out to a 12-2 lead, which included a 6-0 run that featured a pretty alley-oop from Thornton to Jared Hamilton.

The Blue Devils missed 14 of their 15 shots, which included a stretch of 10 misses in a row, over the first nine minutes, but BC failed to build a lead larger than 10. Eventually, the shots started falling for Duke as Matthew Hurt’s second-chance layup began a quick 7-0, and after a Thornton jumper, Jack White found Cassius Stanley on the break for a ridiculous one-handed alley-oop, which forced Jim Christian to call a timeout.

Duke maintained that momentum as Vernon Carey’s layup with 6:09 left in the first half gave the Blue Devils their first lead of the game, but BC answered with a 6-0 run completed by a nice driving layup by Jay Heath. Thornton added another jumper as the Eagles took a 24-21 lead into halftime.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3960jkM