BOSTON — Fans of the Boston College Eagles enjoyed their storm-the-court moment with a 63-48 upset victory over No. 6 Virginia before a packed house on Wednesday night at Conte Forum.
The game generated some firsts for a program that hadn’t enjoyed many in recent years. BC secured its third win over a ranked opponent in a season since 2008-09 and the first over a top 10 since the Eagles beat No. 1 Duke on Dec. 9, 2017. BC also recorded it eighth conference win for the first time since 2010-11.
The Eagles were not pushovers against ranked ACC opponents at Conte earlier in the season. Boston College dispatched No. 20 Virginia Tech and No. 20 Clemson and missed a last second shot in a one-point loss to No. 16 Duke on Jan. 7. No. 22 NC State broke BC’s competitive run with a 92-62 mismatch on Feb. 11.
On Wednesday, after falling behind 4-0, BC went on a 9-0 run and led 9-6 into the first media timeout. Quinten Post led the surge with two plays in the paint while Jayden Gardner scored the Cavs’ half dozen.
Virginia made a brief surge, but the Eagles countered with a reverse on the baseline by DeMarr Langford and a pull up jumper by Mason Madsen to tie the game at 13-all into the second media timeout.
Both camps employed asphyxiating perimeter defenses, that limited dribble penetration and open looks from downtown. BC broke free with a 6-0 spurt that included two plays at the rim by Makai Ashton-Langford to go up 21-15 into the third media timeout.
BC went up 26-17 on an off-balance trey by Ashton-Langford at the end of the shot clock and a baseline drive Langford with 2:40 to play. BC led 28-21 at the intermission.
BC opened the second half with a brief spurt to go up 34-25 into the first media timeout. BC took a 40-28 lead on a floater by Langford with 13:52 to play. Zackery brought the crowd energy to nuclear with a drive through traffic and a 3-ball to give the Eagles a 49-37 lead with 7:55 to play.
BC went up 57-43 on two plays at the rum by Devin McGlockton and Langford. Ashton-Langford applied the dagger with a 3-ball with under a minute to play.
