Check below for game stories from all the ACC basketball action on Tuesday. While we’re in non-conference play, stories will be listed in alphabetical order, by which ACC team is involved.
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BC Avoids Upset, Beats Sacred Heart 75-67 In OT
BOSTON (AP) — Boston College guard Lonnie Jackson has had to manage his minutes since missing the first three games of the season with a hamstring injury.
But when the Eagles went into overtime against Sacred Heart, his were the freshest legs around.
Jackson hit a 3-pointer to start overtime — his only basket of the game — and Boston College never trailed again, pulling away for a 75-67 victory over Sacred Heart on Tuesday night. Ryan Anderson had 28 points and 11 rebounds, and Joe Rahon had nine of his 19 points in overtime to help the Eagles win their second consecutive game.
“To win a game where you’re not playing well, things aren’t going right, the other team’s making shots — to win it, that’s a big step for us,” BC coach Steve Donahue said.
Jackson played only 22 minutes in the game — matching his season-high — but he played the entire overtime, when the Eagles (3-4) outscored Sacred Heart 14-6. He had two rebounds in the extra period.
“He goes after the basketball,” Donahue said. “He’s still not 100 percent. He gets fatigued really quickly out there.”
Olivier Hanlan had 15 with five rebounds for BC, which has never lost to Sacred Heart in seven tries. The Pioneers (1-5) are 0-11 against teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Chris Evans scored 18 points for Sacred Heart, but he missed a layup and a 3-pointer in the final minute of regulation that could have given the Pioneers the lead. Steve Glowiak added 15 points and seven rebounds.
The surprisingly close game against a one-win team from the Northeast Conference came five days afterBoston College lost by two points to No. 18 Connecticut in the 2K Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden. The Eagles beat Washington in the third-place game.
“It’s been three out of four that we’ve won,” Anderson said, “and the one that we lost we were just one or two possessions away.”
The Pioneers coming off an 85-73 victory over Fordham that was the first for coach Anthony Latina.
But BC fell behind by 11 and never led in the first half, cutting the deficit to nine when Anderson hit a layup with under 4 minutes left in the first. Neither team scored for more than 3½ minutes until Garland Owens made a layup to cut the deficit to seven points at the break.
“We obviously didn’t have the best first half. It was kind of sloppy,” Rahon said. “The way we played in the second half and overtime — I don’t think we could have done that in the first three games of the season.”
BC scored the first five points of the second half, too, making it a two-point game at 34-32. Hanlan made a 3-pointer off an offensive rebound with 16:15 left to make it 37-36 — the Eagles’ first lead.
The score was tied at 61 after Tevin Falzon’s putback with 2:45 left and it stayed that way into the final minute, when Evans went across the lane for an off-balance layup attempt. He missed, and the ball bounced off a BC player and out of bounds.
The Pioneers dribbled the clock down to about 6 seconds before Evans took a 3-pointer from the top of the key. Rahon grabbed the rebound and Donahue called a timeout from the sideline with 2.1 seconds left. The Eagles’ had to take the ball out under the Sacred Heart basket, and Anderson’s half-courter at the buzzer was short of everything.
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Georgia Tech Defeats Mississippi Valley St. 76-59
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Tech broke out of a two-game slump in a big way Tuesday, when Robert Carter Jr. tied a season high with 13 points and grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds to lead the Yellow Jackets to a 76-59 win over Mississippi Valley State.
The sophomore forward wasn’t the only Jacket to bully the Delta Devils. Tech (5-1) outscored the smaller SWAC squad 30-0 in the paint in the first half on the way to a 41-14 lead. MVSU (1-5) in the first 20 minutes hit four 3-point shots and two free throws but missed all 18 of its two-point shots.
Tech lost 82-72 at home to Dayton six days earlier, and on Sunday trailed North Carolina A&T by 11 points seven minutes into the second half before winning 78-71.
Tuesday, the Jackets did not wait to step on the gas. A 27-2 run in the first half blew open the game.
“I feel in order for us to be a good team, we’ve got to get rebounds,” said the 6-foot-8 Carter, who is averaging nine points and 9.7 rebounds. “I think we kind of thought we were better than we are. I think Dayton beating us kind of put us back in our place a little bit.”
Tech’s Trae Golden and freshman reserve swingman Quinton Stephens added 10 points each, and center Daniel Miller had eight points and 12 rebounds. Anthony McDonald led MVSU with 17 points, including three of the 11 3-pointers made by his team.
The first half turned ugly after just a few minutes.
MVSU’s DeAngelo Priar, who scored 14, tied the game at 6 with a 3-point shot with 14:53 remaining, but the Delta Devils did not score another field goal for more than 12 minutes. By the time McDonald hit trey for MSVU with 2:32 left in the half, it merely cut the Yellow Jackets’ lead to 33-11.
Tech was not only playing over and through the Delta Devils, but running past them. In their 27-2 first-half run, the Jackets scored eight layups and had a 14-0 edge in fastbreak points in the first 20 minutes.
“First half, that’s the worst I’ve seen my guys play,” said second-year Delta Devils coach Chico Potts. “I told them at halftime, ‘I don’t know who you are.’ We were 4-for-31; that ain’t ever happened.”
Priar and McDonald were the only two players to score from the field for MVSU in the first half, when nine of their teammates attempted shots but failed to score.
As the Delta Devils went scoreless from the field during Tech’s 27-2 run, eight different Yellow Jackets scored. Senior post men Kam Holsey and Miller led the way during that stretch with six points each.
The Jackets expanded their lead to 35 at 66-31 on a 3-pointer by Chris Bolden with 9:29 left in the game. Soon after that, Gregory played almost all subs. Several were rarely-used players, and MVSU closed with a 28-10 streak to make the score more respectable.
MVSU made 11-of-29 3-pointers in the game, and redshirt freshman guard Jordan Washington added 16 points off the bench, including four treys all in the second half.
The difference, however, came in the work of the big fellas. Tech outscored MVSU 44-14 in the paint, and had a huge advantage on the boards (49-28). Carter gathered his 15 rebounds in just 20 minutes, and snatched 10 in 12 first-half minutes.
“Robert was a monster, did an unbelievable job on the defensive glass that first half; he got almost every rebound,” said the Tech coach. “Fifteen rebounds in 21 minutes is a workman’s effort. That’s the blue collar-type grit that we need right there.
“That’s one thing we challenged him on prior to the season. You want to have people saying, ‘Who’s that guy getting those rebounds?’ You got to get in the double digits. I think him and Daniel understand that, and both those guys did a great job today.”
N.C. State Rolls Past Florida Gulf Coast 82-62
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Jordan Vandenberg finally got the chance to play a significant role for North Carolina State. His presence in the middle certainly helped, from freeing T.J. Warren to play his more natural position to helping the Wolfpack better protect the rim.
Coach Mark Gottfried is hoping the 7-foot-1 fifth-year senior is going to make it a habit, too.
Warren had a season-high 30 points to help N.C. State beat Florida Gulf Coast 82-62 on Tuesday night, while Vandenberg had 10 rebounds in his first action following a preseason ankle injury.
“You can try to lead as much as you want,” Vandenberg said. “But if you don’t demonstrate on the floor what you can do, they ain’t going to listen to you. I think this game at least shows them, ‘Hey, I can play basketball.'”
Vandenberg finished with seven points, two blocks and two assists despite battling foul trouble for the Wolfpack (3-2), but his presence certainly made things easier in a blowout win against last year’s NCAA tournament darling Eagles (4-2).
With Vandenberg starting at center, Warren played more at small forward and Gottfried didn’t have to rely on playing unproven freshmen side by side inside.
“You could tell there was a big difference with him defensively and offensively,” Warren said. “(Having) him to alter shots from guard penetration, it was a big deal for us. And I’m glad he’s back.”
Vandenberg, who has slimmed down 40 pounds in the offseason, suffered a Grade 3 sprain of his left ankle during an exhibition win against UNC Pembroke on Oct. 30 and was expected to miss 4-6 weeks. His debut came on the early side of that prognosis, and his performance showed he’s determined to contribute more after averaging just 1.2 points and 7.9 minutes for his career.
After a strong first half with eight rebounds, Vandenberg turned in the highlight of his career, catching a transition pass from freshman Anthony “Cat” Barber in the air then twisting around to throw down a one-handed slam that gave the Wolfpack a 50-30 lead with 16:35 left.
“He did a great job of getting his body in the best place it can be for him,” Gottfried said. “So that agility, he’s somewhat nimble now for a big player. He can move. It helps him a lot. Hopefully we can get some more games like he played tonight because I thought he was the difference in the game early on.”
Barber added 12 points in his first college start for the Wolfpack, who shot 55 percent, dominated the boards and got plenty of easy baskets in the paint to coast to an easy home win.
Chase Fieler scored 18 to lead the Eagles (4-2), who shot 35 percent and struggled to slow N.C. State’s humming-along offense all night. Florida Gulf Coast — which grabbed national attention with its “Dunk City” run to the NCAA round of 16 last season — trailed by 15 at halftime and by as many as 27 points from there.
“They’ve got talent. I think they’ve got some depth,” first-year Eagles coach Joe Dooley said. “(Vandenberg) made a big difference today because he clogs the hole and also buys them more minutes. They just keep running bodies at you, which we don’t have many of right now. I think as the season goes along, they’ll be a team that continually gets better.”
N.C. State was coming off last week’s overtime home loss to North Carolina Central, a reminder that the reconfigured Wolfpack would need time to develop an overhauled roster.
Gottfried juggled his starting lineup for this one, moving Barber in at point guard instead of sophomore Tyler Lewis while starting Vandenberg in his season debut.
After Vandenberg’s big dunk, N.C. State treated its fans to a crowd-pleasing rout, with freshman BeeJay Anya entering the game for the first time midway through the half then throwing down three slams in a 2-minute span that pushed the lead to 68-41 with about 9 minutes left.
Warren went 13-for-18 from the field in 29 minutes, while Barber had six assists. N.C. State finished with a 43-25 rebounding advantage, scored 17 second-chance points and managed 54 points in the paint — several coming on dunks for an offense that had no problem getting out in transition.
Bernard Thompson added 14 points for Florida Gulf Coast, which shot just 8-for-28 (29 percent) in the opening half to trail 39-24 at halftime.
Pittsburgh Routs Stanford In 88-67 Win
BROOKLYN, N.Y. (AP) — Whether it is as a member of the Big East or Atlantic Coast Conference, there is one truism about thePittsburghPanthers.
They really feel comfortable in New York.
“New York is a second home to us,” Lamar Patterson said afterPittsburghroutedStanford88-67 in the championship game of the Progressive Legends Classic on Tuesday night.
“It’s just something that I think will continue on forever, basically.”
Patterson’s 24 points led five players in double-figure scoring. Durand Johnson and Talib Zanna had 14 each. Cameron Wright chipped in with 13 and James Robinson added 10.
Pittsburghimproved to 6-0, and has a 31.3 point average margin of victory.Stanfordfell to 5-2.
“We shoot a little better,”Pittsburghcoach Jamie Dixon said. “Our guards have some experience. We have a good inside presence in (Zanna) and the new guys are all really skilled offensively. “
Dwight Powell led the Cardinal with 20 points. Anthony Brown and Chasson Randle had 16 and 10, respectively.
While Powell led all players with nine rebounds,Pittsburghout-reboundedStanford31-29 and had a 10-6 advantage in offensive boards. The Panthers used the additional possessions to score 11 second-chance points.
Pittsburghwent into halftime with a 43-28 lead. Much of that advantage was gained in a 21-8 run late in the first half. Twelve of Pitt’s 21 points in that span came from the foul line. The Panthers made 14 of 15 free throws in the first half and finished the game at 30 of 34 from the stripe.
It wasn’t just from the foul line that Pitt hit from. The Panthers ended the game having made 45.5 percent of their shots from the field, including 47.1 percent from three-point range.
“So we shoot the ball a little better,” Dixon said. “We make free throws at a little higher rate and we’ve always had good passers. That’s pretty consistent this year as well. We’ve always been unselfish. I think we’re pushing the ball a little more. But I think we’re getting baskets off of turnovers more so this year. We did that a little bit last year, too. “
WhileStanfordconnected on 50 percent (24-for-48) of their shots from the field, they did not take advantage of opportunities from the line or beyond the arc. The Cardinal was 14-for-20 from the free throw line and made 5-of-15 threes.
“We’re still learning,”Stanfordcoach Johnny Dawkins said about his team. The Cardinal only went to the line six times in the first half. “I don’t think (it was) particularly anything they did (to keepStanfordoff the foul line). We have to grow as a team. In the second half we made the adjustments and I think it was a different outcome for us. “
Fittingly, the game’s biggest sequence was a three and a free throw. AfterStanfordhad cut Pitt’s lead to 11, Johnson hit a three from the left side of the court and was fouled by Randle. Johnson made the free throw to push Pitt’s advantage to 70-55.
“It was difficult to overcome because it is a deflating play,” Dawkins said. “Time wasn’t on our side; every second was ticking off when you’re down double digits. It’s difficult to overcome.”
Tuesday night’s win marked the second time in five yearsPittsburghwon the early-season tournament.
Patterson was named MVP of the tournament, and was on the all-tournament team. He was joined by Wright, Powell, Jaye Crockett of Texas Tech and TaShawn Thomas of Houston.
“He’s a better player now than he was last year and probably a better player than he was a few weeks ago,” Dixon said of Patterson. “He’s always had skills_can pass and shoot. He’s just a better athlete and in better shape right now. That comes from physical maturity and mental maturity. He’s taken that challenge. We set a goal for him and he reached it. It’s been a battle and he’s gotten to it.”
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No. 8 Syracuse Tops California 92-81 In Maui
LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Syracuse is used to winning at the Maui Invitational. One more victory for the Orange and it will be three titles in three trips.
Tyler Ennis scored 28 points and led two key second-half runs that carried No. 8 Syracuse past California 92-81 on Tuesday night in the tournament semifinals.
The Orange will play for the championship Wednesday against No. 18 Baylor, which edged Dayton 67-66.Syracuse won the Maui Invitational in 1990 and 1998.
“These two games out here have been great games, great for our team,” coach Jim Boeheim said.
Syracuse scored 51 points in the second half, shooting 55 percent and making five of seven 3-point attempts. Ennis had 17 points and Trevor Cooney scored 20 of his 23 after the break.
“Our guards were unbelievable today and I didn’t even know that until I looked at the stat sheet,” Boeheim said. “I knew they were pretty good, but they were better.”
Jerami Grant finished with 19 points while C.J. Fair had 14 points and seven rebounds.
Cooney said it’s different to shoot in a small gym.
“We play in a dome, it’s open, different backdrop and this is totally different for us,” Cooney said. “The gym is warm, the legs get going and you can get into a rhythm here and that’s what we have been doing.”
Ennis hit a layup during a nine-point run started by Grant’s putback dunk. The spurt lasted more than 2 minutes and gave Syracuse (6-0) its first double-digit lead with less than 8 minutes left.
“We probably lost our focus momentarily, and just kind of turned and got careless with the ball,” California coach Mike Montgomery said.
Justin Cobbs scored 18 points for the Golden Bears (5-1), who will play the Dayton-Baylor loser in the third-place game.
The game was close until midway through the second half, with 10 ties and 12 lead changes.
Cal tied it at 41 going into halftime when Tyrone Wallace hit two free throws after being fouled on a rebound by Ennis.
David Kravish then hit a layup to start the second half, but Ennis responded with his own layup 30 seconds later.
Cobbs gave Cal a four-point run to tie the game at 54. He made a nifty pass in traffic to set up Jordan Mathews for a dunk, then stole the ball from Cooney on the next possession and scampered for a dunk.
Grant responded with a jumper and Syracuse led the rest of the game.
Jabari Bird scored 17 points for Cal and Kravish had 15. The Bears played without Richard Solomon because of an abrasion on his right eye. Solomon started Cal’s previous five games.
“With Solomon being out it was just a different team,” Boeheim said. “I thought watching Cal yesterday that their team this year is much better than last year’s team that we played (in the NCAA tournament).”
Syracuse beat Cal last season to reach the Sweet Sixteen on the way to the Final Four.
Harris’ 20 Leads Virginia Past Hampton, 69-40
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Joe Harris seemed like he could have hardly cared less that he scored 20 points in 20 minutes and was 7 for 7 from the field.
Instead, his eyes lit up when he was asked about Virginia’s defense in its 69-40 victory against Hampton on Tuesday night.
“We didn’t come out and play as well as we should have initially,” the senior shooting guard said. “We didn’t do that good of a job defensively. There was a point where they had 16 points with eight minutes left in the half, and that’s when we really kicked it in defensively.”
Did they ever, holding Hampton scoreless for 7 ½ minutes and running off 23 consecutive points to settle the outcome before halftime.
“All that has to do with us picking it up defensively. Today we had a tendency to come in and just not do well enough to start off with defensively and we picked it up and that kind of stuff transitions over to the offensive end. When we’re playing well defensively, it kind of sparks our offense,” Harris said.
So does Justin Anderson, a self-described defense junkie who was assigned to stop Deron Powers after he scored six early points.
“I took it personal to stop him, and I think we did a pretty good job,” Anderson said after Powers, who made his first three shots, missed his last nine. Anderson, meanwhile, finished with 12 points, four rebounds, three blocks and two steals.
The Cavaliers (5-1) won their fourth straight, and it was the second game in a row their defense helped produce a run of at least 20 points. The Cavaliers outscored Liberty 20-0 during a second-half stretch on Saturday afternoon en route to a 75-53 victory.
Dwight Meikle led Hampton with 12 points. After Dionte Adams’ jumper midway through the first half, the only field goal they got for about the next 17 ½ minutes came from Meikle with 1:32 left in the first half. Meikle finally hit from the field again with 12:28 to play, and by then the Pirates trailed 54-23.
Hampton finished shooting 33 percent with 17 turnovers; Virginia shot 51 percent, made 8 of 12 3-pointers and scored 22 off its takeaways.
Pirates coach Ed Joyner’s team was playing its third road game in six days, and thought it showed after the good start.
“I felt like we lost our legs,” he said. “I saw travel hit us. It’s kind of like we gave all we had to come here and play them.”
Harris, who played 20 minutes, finished 7 for 7 from the field, including 4 for 4 from 3-point range, and had three assists.
The game was part of the Corpus Christi Challenge, and Virginia will face SMU on Friday night in Texas. The Mustangs are coached by Larry Brown, who won an NCAA national championship at Kansas in 1988, and Harris said the word is they are deep with skilled guards.
“It’s time for that,” coach Tony Bennett said of stepping up in competition, “and we’ve got to embrace it and see where we stand.”
The Cavaliers were sloppy early, and a 6-0 run by the Pirates pulled them even at 16 on Adams’ bucket midway through the half.
Harris then sparked the huge run with a 3-pointer from the right side, and Justin Anderson followed with one from the right corner. Harris then had a traditional three-point play, a steal and a layup and another 3, and Anderson added a free throw and a 3-pointer, giving he and Harris the first 18 points.
Darion Atkins’ field goal and a three-point play by Anthony Gill capped the 23-point burst, making it 39-16, and the Pirates never made a run.
Cavaliers coach Tony Bennett began substituting freely with about five minutes remaining, and 12 of 15 players scored.
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Virginia Tech Defeats Furman 75-54
BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) — Virginia Tech men’s basketball James Johnson said the game plan was to get the ball inside against the smaller Furman Paladins.
But as the cliché goes, even the best-laid plans go awry.
Jarell Eddie scored 14 points to lead hot-shooting Virginia Tech to a 75-54 win over Furman on Tuesday.
Eddie made 6 of 15 from the floor, including two 3-pointers, and he also grabbed 10 rebounds for his second straight double-double.
The Hokies (4-3) also got 13 points from Marshall Wood, a career-high 12 points from Will Johnston and 11 from Adam Smith. Johnston hit four 3-pointers while Wood and Smith hit three 3’s each as the Hokies hit 12 3-pointers.
“We’re going to hang our hat on whatever’s working for us on that night,” Johnson said. “But I want to continue to be a team that goes inside. I think we’ve got some guys inside that can score the basketball. We’ve got to settle down and be a little more patient. We’re so anxious to make a move. We’ve got big wings that can post up, and I want to continue to attack the basket.”
The performance marked the fourth straight game in which the Hokies have made at least 10 3-pointers.
“But Eddie can hit 3’s and Will Johnston can hit 3’s and Wood can hit 3’s,” Johnson said. “When those guys are open and it’s their shot, I don’t mind. They’ve got take it. I’ve seen those guys practice and work hard on their game. If it’s there, they can take it.”
Furman (2-3) scored the first basket of the game on a jumper by Stephen Croone. But the Hokies answered with an 18-1 run to take control of the game and never trailed again.
The Paladins missed 12 straight shots after Croone’s game-opening jumper. Furman shot just 20 percent from the floor in the first half (5 of 24) and missed all six of its 3-point attempts.
Virginia Tech gradually built the lead to 22 points in the second half following a Wood 3-pointer with 14:30 left that gave the Hokies a 43-21 lead. Furman cut the lead to nine points on two occasions, the final coming on a Croone 3-pointer with 7:40 remaining.
But the Johnston answered with a 3-pointer with 7:11 remaining to start a 15-2 run that pushed the lead back to 66-44, and the Hokies weren’t threatened again. Eddie scored seven of Virginia Tech’s 15 points in that run.
“There was a stretch there in the second half when we just wore down and started to take some quick shots, and they were able to get going,” Furman coach Niko Medved said. “(Will) Johnston made some huge shots. We made a run there, and we just couldn’t quite get to him in our (2-3) zone and he made some big shots when they really needed it. We had it to nine or 10 at that point, and he made some big shots, and from there, we just couldn’t recover.”
Virginia Tech also got a career-high 11 assists from freshman point guard Devin Wilson. His penetration against Furman’s zone enabled him to pass to open shooters on the wing.
The Hokies shot 47 percent from the floor for the game (28 of 59).
“We’ve got a lot of shooters,” Eddie said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who have deep range. I feel like we probably took too many 3’s. We want to go down low and score in the paint some more. But if those shots are open, we’ll take those shots, and that’s what we did.”
Croone led the Paladins with 27 points. He hit 8 of 14 from the floor and 10 of 11 from the free-throw line. Larry Wideman added 13 points for the Paladins, who only had four players score in the game.
The Hokies played without freshman guard Ben Emelogu, who sat out with a concussion. Emelogu was averaging 14 points per game.