Home College BasketBall Boston College Shocks No.18 Virginia

Boston College Shocks No.18 Virginia

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BC Guard (24) Chris Herren Jr. attempts a baseline pass around UVA Forward (30) Jay Huff. (Photo/ Christopher Winslow)

Conte Forum–. Jared Hamilton hit a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 37 seconds left and a pair of free throws to clinch it as Boston College beat No. 18 Virginia 60-53 on Tuesday night.It was Virginia’s first road ACC loss since losing at Duke last season (Jan. 19). With the loss, the Cavaliers fall to 11-3 (3-1 ACC).

Braxton Key led Virginia with 16 points and eight rebounds, but the Cavaliers are worried about the health of Key’s wrist for the rest of the season.

Kihei Clark had 12 points and Kody Stattmann chipped in 11 points both hit double digits for the Cavs, but Virginia shot just 32.7% from the field and 18.8% from three for the game.

 

Boston College's Jared Hamilton celebrates late in the second half of the Eagles' 60-53 win over Virginia on Tuesday.
Boston College’s Jared Hamilton celebrates late in the second half of the Eagles’ 60-53 win over Virginia

 

BC is now 8-15 all-time against the defending national champion.

The Eagles scored eight of the first 10 points in the game and still led 42-30 with 14 minutes left before the Cavaliers ran off 10 points in a row to cut the deficit to two points. With about seven minutes left in the game, Key missed a layup and Mamadi Diakite slapped the rebound out to the top of the key, where Kihei Clark hit a 3-pointer from downtown to tie it at 45-all.

Diakite followed with a three-point play to give the Cavs its first lead since the opening basket of the contest. Clark scored seven points during the 20-3 spurt, while the Eagles was held to just one basket over almost nine minutes.

Jay Heath scored 17 for the Eagles (9-6, 3-1), who had not beaten Virginia since 2013. It was BC’s first win over a ranked team since a victory over No. 11 Florida State last January.

 

BC built it’s lead to two on a weird sequence that involved a missed free throw and a foul call on Key, but Key tied the game at 53 with 1:38 to play in the game. The back-breaking shot came with 38 seconds left on the clock as BC hit a three after Key missed a with an easy bunny under the basket.

Diakite missed a three with 18 seconds on the clock, and BC would be able to win the game on the foul line down the stretch to pull off the upset.

“When we got down five, I thought we showed a lot of character, a lot of courage to get the win,” Christian said.