BC was able to halt their losing skid by defeating Georgia Tech 80-76 in overtime. Tyrese Rice scored 26 in the effort, while Rakim Sanders poured in 19 points.
BC was up by as much as mid way through the second half, but Georgia Tech's full court pressure proved too much for the Eagles to handle. They went on a 4 minute scoring drought that saw their lead evaporate. BC was able to send the game into overtime despite three starters fouling out, Josh Souther, Joe Trapani, and Rakim Sanders. BC got a great effort defensively from Courtney Dunn who was forced to play extensive minutes. For those who missed the game, here is an account of what happened during the overtime period:
BC began the overtime period with three of their starters fouled out and having scored just 4 points in the final 6 minutes of regulation. Georgia Tech took an early 69-66 lead in overtime thanks to a free throw and a fast break dunk. Rice missed a three pointer on the Eagles next possession but Reggie Jackson grabbed one of his nine rebounds of the game and converted the bucket to bring BC back to within one at 69-68. Corey Raji scored back-to-back baskets on assists from Biko Paris to put BC ahead 72-69. After another defensive stand for BC led to a pull up jumper from Tyrese Rice to push the lead to 74-69. Georgia Tech responded when Alade Aminu converted a three-point play to make it a 74-72 game. BC then broke the press and Reggie Jackson found Corey Raji on a great no-look feed for the easy two. Georgia Tech’s Gani Lawai made it a 76-74 game with his dunk with just over a minute remaining. After Courtney Dunn was denied on layup attempt Georgia Tech brought the ball down court looking to tie the game, but an errant pass went straight into the hands of Tyrese Rice who finished with a nice driving layup. Tech answered with a bucket on the other end to bring to score to 78-76 in favor of BC with 12 seconds left. BC was finally able to inbounds the ball to Rice after some struggles, and Rice was immediately fouled with 7 seconds to go. Tyrese was a perfect 10-10 from the line today and his final two free throws clinched the victory for BC.
The concern from this game is the inability to break the press. BC looked like chickens with their heads cut off, no plays designed or anything to inbounds the ball. As a result GT was able to make this game quite interesting. BC will face plenty of full court pressure in their up-coming games so I sincerely hope the players and coaching staff address this issue and learn from this game.
