BOSTON (AP) -- Same shooter. Same shot. Same result.
No. 12 Boston College escaped with a 59-57 victory over Virginia Tech
on Saturday after Zabian Dowdell missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer --
a carbon copy of the finish a month ago when the teams met in
Blacksburg.
On Feb. 4, Dowdell missed from the left corner in the final
seconds of BC's 74-73 victory, putting his shot off the front of
the rim. So when he took the full-court inbounds pass in the left
corner and dribbled free from a defender, he might have had a
chance at redemption.
But, once again, he left his shot short, and BC won.
"They had some tall guys on me and it ended up I didn't see the
basket," Dowdell said. "I had a better look the first time. It
was much different this time."
Jared Dudley had 16 points and nine rebounds and Craig Smith
scored 12 for BC (24-6, 11-5 ACC) in the finale of its first
Atlantic Coast Conference season. The Eagles had already clinched a
bye in the first-round of the conference tournament, and Saturday's
victory means the Eagles wouldn't have to play top-ranked Duke
until the league championship game.
"We're definitely going down there with the intention to win,"
said Louis Hinnant, who along with Smith wrapped up his home
career. "If Duke is there, so be it."
Jamon Gordon scored 21 and added nine rebounds for Virginia Tech
(14-15, 4-12), which lost for the sixth time in eight games and
fell to 0-7 against ranked teams.
"What they are is a good basketball team," Hokies coach Seth
Greenberg said. "Not too fancy. Just a good basketball team."
The Hokies had a chance to win it after Sean Marshall shot an
air ball on the second free throw with 2.3 seconds left.
Deron Washington made a long inbounds pass to Dowdell, who
dribbled once and got up a clean shot from 3-point range on the
left side. But his shot hit the front of the rim, and he wound up
circling the court with a pained look on his face.
The game was the home finale for Smith and Hinnant, who in four
years won more games than any other graduating class in BC history.
They went 92-33, shared in two Big East titles and sent the school
off to a successful start in its transition to the ACC.
"They've been very fortunate to win a lot of basketball games
here. I'm just extremely happy for them," coach Al Skinner said.
"They'll probably be asking me for a portion of my paycheck
after their careers are over," he said, adding: "I hope y'all
acknowledge that I said 'after their careers are over,' so we don't
have any problems."
Smith will also leave school as one of two Eagles to amass at
least 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. BC won 11 of its last 13 ACC
games after starting 0-3 in the conference.
Virginia Tech led 29-22 at the half before BC scored the first
eight points of the second. The Eagles took the lead for good on
Hinnant's first basket of the game -- a three-point play with 9:08
left that gave BC a 45-43 lead during a 10-0 run.
Sean Williams' dunk gave a 52-43 lead with 5:49 left. But the
Hokies cut it to four points before Hinnant hit a 3-pointer from
the right wing to make it 57-49 with 3:17 left.
BC led by four when Gordon stole a bad pass and broke away for
the dunk to make it 59-57 with 27 seconds left. Dudley missed a
foul shot, but Hinnant got the rebound and forced the Hokies to
foul again.
This time, Tyrese Rice made both free throws. Wynton Witherspoon
scored at the other end to cut the deficit to two points, then
Marshall missed his free throws -- barely hitting the rim on the
first and missing everything on the second.