For the first time since 1985, the Boston College Eagles have upset the Duke Blue Devils 80-74.
The atmosphere in Conte Forum was electric as the Eagles dazzled the sellout crowd. Fans packed the arena early and created a hostile environment throughout the game. The victory brought upon a massive rush of students as they stormed the court in celebration.
Rakim Sanders got the Eagles going early, scoring nine of BC’s first 11 points. Duke quickly pulled ahead 19-13 before Joe Trapani hit his only three of the game to bring BC back within a possession mid-way through the half.
Duke proceeded to go on a 10-2 run, pushing the lead to double digits. The Blue Devils led by as many as 13, 37-24, with two and a half minutes to play in the half.
The Eagles would close out the half strong. A Tyler Roche three cut the lead down to 10. Tyrese Rice would add a three of his own and a jumper with 20 seconds remaining. Meanwhile, Duke faltered down the stretch missing their final 5 shots of the half. BC would enter the break trailing 37-32.
BC quickly closed the gap following a Rice three-pointer and a conventional three-point play by Trapani. His free throw would pull BC to 39-38. Duke led 46-42, when Coach Skinner drew up a lob pass to Trapani. The play was executed perfectly by Josh Southern who found a high-flying Trapani for the alley-oop dunk.
The next stretch would be crucial for the Eagles as they lost their prior two games when they fell apart around the 10-minute marker in the second half. This time, however, the Eagles would not crumble. They answered each Duke score with a basket of their own. This would continue for the next three minutes until Reggie Jackson once again came up huge. The freshman drained a fade-away three to give the Eagles their first lead at 56-55. It was their first lead since they led 2-0 at the start of the game.
Duke came back within one at 62-61 when Tyler Roche sunk another three pointer, this one to put BC ahead by four. Duke’s defensive pressure would force a pair of Trapani turnovers on BC’s next two possessions as Duke made up some ground.
Trapani’s layup would put the Eagles up 67-64 with three minutes to play, but Duke refused to lie down quietly. Jon Scheyer hit a tough baseline jumper to give Duke the momentary lead. Trapani followed with a pair of free throws after getting fouled while grabbing a crucial offensive board, but Gerald Henderson rattled home a shot to give Duke the 72-71 lead with just under two minutes remaining.
Following a BC timeout, Tyrese Rice sunk a long range three-pointer to put the home squad back on top 74-72. Duke’s Singler then missed both his free throws, but grabbed his own offensive rebound off the second miss and converted the put back to tie up the score.
Boston College got the ball back with under a minute remaining. Freshman Reggie Jackson, unfazed by the pressure-packed situation, penetrated the zone defense and hit a floater with 50 seconds to play to give the Eagles the lead, this time for good.
Duke would miss all their desperation shots and Rice and Trapani would each hit a pair of free throws, as students piled down onto the court level in anticipation of the final buzzer.
The key down the stretch was rebounding for the Eagles. BC was out-rebounded for much of this game, but the team fought and scrapped for each and every board as and prevented Duke from getting multiple looks at the rim. Raji and Trapani both did an excellent job on the offensive glass as they extended possessions and took valuable time off the clock.Tyrese Rice paced the team with 21 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists.
Rice’s three-pointer to open the second half put him over the 2,000-career point milestone. He becomes the 7th BC player to reach this plateau; the last player to score that many points was Jared Dudley, who was in attendance at the game.
Joe Trapani scored 20 points and hauled in 7 rebounds to compliment Rice’s efforts. Rakim Sanders was quiet in the second half, but finished with 14 in the game. Reggie Jackson continues to shine on the big stage. Jackson contributed 15 points off the bench, including the eventual game-winner. His production proved to be the difference in this contest.
This win could have huge implications for BC down the stretch come “Selection Sunday.” BC now has two wins over top-five opponents. They improve their conference record to 7-5 and 19-8 overall.
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