NEW YORK — Five seconds left in overtime, game was tied, the Barclays Center crowd was on its feet, Sam Waardenburg grabbed a defensive rebound, fired an outlet pass to Charlie Moore as the clock ticked toward zero and Miami Hurricanes coach Jim Larranaga considered calling a timeout.
But then, Larranaga changed his mind and let Moore do what Moore does.
The heady point guard, who has made game-winning plays all season, found a sprinting Jordan Miller near the basket, and Miller laid it in for a 71-69 win over Boston College in the ACC tournament quarterfinal Thursday afternoon.
UM’s bench erupted when Miller’s shot went in and Larranaga, wearing a giant smile, saluted the small but spirited section of Miami fans in the audience.
The fourth-seeded Hurricanes (23-9) advance to Friday’s 7 p.m. semifinal against top seed Duke (27-5), which beat Syracuse, 88-79, in the earlier quarterfinal.
“I was just thinking, `I’m going to sprint the floor’ and I was hoping Charlie would look at me, and he did and delivered a great pass,” Miller said. “As much as that layup was important, his pass was just as important. I’m not surprised the pass was spot on. That’s Charlie Moore doing Charlie Moore things.”
Kameron McGusty led Miami with 16 points, Moore had 15 points and six assists, Isaiah Wong had 14 points and six assists, Miller finished with 13 points and Waardenburg added nine assists with nine points.
Miller said he looked at the clock before he took off and was just hoping Moore would find him in time. “When I laid it up, it was nothing but thrills, the ACC tournament is ups and downs, it’s March, this win is huge,” Miller said. “But we’re not done yet. We’re not finished yet. We’ve still got a lot of games. As nice as this win is, we’re still locked in.”
As it happens, the game-winning play replicated a drill the Hurricanes do in practice all the time. They call it “The Celtic Drill.” Waardenburg gets a rebound, passes to Moore, who then passes to Miller for a layup. They executed it to perfection on Thursday.
“Like an idiot, I was about ready to call a timeout,” Larranaga said, smiling. “I saw Charlie get the ball, and I thought, `Timeout!’ and then I thought, `No, I better not.’ ’’
Moore’s final pass was not his only clutch play of the game. With the score tied 62-62 and 57 seconds to go in regulation, Moore, playing with four fouls, grabbed an offensive rebound and scored on a put-back to push UM ahead by two. On the next possession, he stole the ball from Eagles guard DeMarr Langford.
“He does whatever it takes to win the ballgame, whether it’s hit a long-distance three, like he’s done so many times this season, get an assist, get in the paint and find an open man, or drive to the basket and shoot one of these high arching layups. Or get a steal. He is an incredible competitor.
“He has made my life very enjoyable because he gives me tremendous confidence in knowing that he’s going to make a lot of great decisions throughout the game.”
Miami had a chance to win the game in regulation. The Canes had the ball 15 seconds to go, but the Eagles forced Wong into a turnover.
The 13th-seeded Eagles, under first-year coach Earl Grant, came in as motivated underdogs after beating No. 5 seed Wake Forest in overtime on Wednesday, following up on a first-round win over Pitt on Tuesday.
Miami aggressively trapped the Eagles’ ball screens and neutralized their offense in the first half. The one player they had trouble containing was Quinten Post, the 7-foot and 240-pound Dutch forward who transferred to Boston College this season from Mississippi State. Post took advantage of his size against the thinner Hurricanes and put up 12 first-half points. He led BC with 14 points on the day.
Four other Eagles scored in double figures — Brevin Galloway (12), Jaeden Zackery (11), and James Karnik and Langford with 10 apiece.
UM and BC had almost identical final stats. The Canes were 30 of 56, the Eagles were 29 of 57. Both teams had 28 rebounds. But Miami will march on.
“This team has done very, very successfully all season is figure out a way to get stops,” Larranaga said. “Both teams shot lights out. In the end we got the one defensive stop we needed to win the ballgame.”
The Hurricanes beat then-No. 2 Duke, 76-74, on the road on Jan. 8, but they know Friday’s game will be tougher as a spot in the ACC title game is at stake.
“Duke has been a top 10 team all season long, they’ve got tremendous talent at every position, they have the winningest coach in college basketball history, and our guys are going to very, very excited about playing them again,” Larranaga said. “We played them early in the year, a lot has transpired since then. We’ll need to get a lot of rest between now and Friday’s tipoff.”
