Entering the contest with a winless record of 0-14 in the ACC, the much-maligned Boston College Eagles (7-21, 0-15 ACC) wished for nothing more than to leave the Conte Forum with their first bright spot of conference play.
Unfortunately, for the Eagles faithful, that was not in the cards, as the team dropped its 15th consecutive game, losing to the Virginia Tech Hokies (15-13, 7-8 ACC), 71-56.
Point guard Eli Carter lead all scorers with 19 points on 6-of-19 shooting while center Dennis Clifford recorded 13 points and 12 rebounds for the Eagles, however, their efforts were not enough to quell the efforts of the hot-shooting Hokies, who knocked down 49% of their shots from the field en route to their seventh in-conference victory.
Allen, Bibbs Lead Hokies
Point guard Seth Allen led Virginia Tech with 14 points while small forward Justin Bibbs contributed 12 points and 10 rebounds for the team.
“Seth Allen is an interesting guy," Boston College head coach Jim Christian told VAVEL. "When he gets any angle, he gets the ball to the front of the rim better than any guard in the league. When he’s hitting threes, its hard to handle.”
Hokies head coach Buzz Williams gave rave reviews for Bibbs' performance, stating, “I love Bibbs, I love who he is. He’s easily the most efficient player we have on both sides of the floor. His presence on the glass has really helped us over the last month. It’s hard for us to take him off of the floor.”
The Eagles were plagued by an underwhelming shooting performance, hitting on just 35% of their shots from the field and 18% of their three-point attempts.
According to Christian, however, the team simply needs to keep searching for opportunities to succeed despite their continuous stretch of substandard performances.
“We’re all frustrated, but it doesn't mean we are demoralized," he said, referencing the need for his players to take advantage of the experience that they are receiving on the floor, as nine players played at least 14 minutes.
"When you get the opportunity to make a play, you gotta make a play," Christian exclaimed. "We got guys playing a lot of minutes, they need to make a play. For them it’s a great opportunity.”
Power forward Kerry Blackshear Jr. added 10 points and five rebounds while big man Zach LeDay chipped in nine points and two blocks.
Despite an early 5-0 spurt which jumpstarted the Hokies to a 7-4 lead, the Eagles were in control of the game from the immediate outset, with a euro-step bucket by guard Carter and an and-one by Carter giving them a 9-7 lead at the under-16 timeout.
Unfazed, the Hokies grasped a hold of the momentum in the preceding few minutes, garnering a 13-9 lead with four points by Allen sandwiching a putback dunk by small forward Shane Henry.
Hokies Surge Towards End of First Half To Take Control
Boston College was able to slice the deficit to 19-16 with 8:13 remaining in the first half as shooting guard Darryl Hicks found a streaking Garland Owens down the baseline for a dunk, however, the Virginia Tech advantage ballooned to 26-18 with 5:25 left after a fast break layup by Allen and a three-pointer by small forward Chris Clarke.
Fueled by a tenacious defensive approach, the Hokies pushed the lead to 40-25 with 1:12 remaining, with a steal by Allen leading to an open dunk by small forward Justin Bibbs and a turnover by Boston College shooting guard Sammy Barnes-Thompkins leading to an and-one finish by power forward Kerry Blackshear Jr.
A ferocious putback dunk by Owens at the buzzer sent the Eagles to the halftime break down 40-27, with the deficit caused primarily by a porous shooting performance as the team shot just 33% from the field and a horrific 1-of-15 from three-point land in the first half.
On the other side of the docket, the Hokies shot the lights out in the first half, hitting on 54% of their shots from the field and three of their four three-point attempts.
Williams credited his team's excellent first-half shooting to efficient ball movement, telling VAVEL, “I thought we took good shots. The threes that we are the best at taking is when we force the team into making multiple rotations defensively. Bibbs did a great job of doing so.”
Virginia Tech's momentum carried into the second half, as their lead swelled to 44-27 with 18:45 left after a jumper by guard Justin Robinson and a fastbreak layup by power forward Zach LeDay off of a Jalen Hudson steal.
A three by Carter lessened the gap to 15, however, two Blackshear Jr. free throws and a steal-and-score by Allen pushed the Hokies advantage right back to 55-36 with 11:32 remaining.
Despite the daunting deficit, the Eagles began to show signs of life, as a dunk and a three-pointer by small forward Ervins Meznieks coupled with two free throws by Owens narrowed the difference to 58-45 with under eight minutes to play.
The Hokies would not relinquish their stranglehold over the game, however, as a jumper from Bibbs, a driving layup by Allen, and a layup by LeDay gave Virginia Tech a 67-47 lead with just over four minutes to go.
A brief 7-0 run by the Eagles, punctuated by a putback slam by Clifford, cut the Hokies advantage to 67-54, but a deep two-pointer by Bibbs with 2:30 remaining put the surge to bed.