Smith makes his move

WASHINGTON -- Frustrated after scoring a mere 3 points in the first half, Boston College's Craig Smith exploded in the second by hitting 9 of 9 shots to score 21 of his game-high 24 points and lead the Eagles to a 72-64 Big East triumph over previously undefeated Georgetown last night before an MCI Center crowd of 7,735.

So what sparked Smith's sudden turnabout?

"I'd been playing [against] a zone all year and it was frustrating," Smith said of a Georgetown defensive strategy that limited BC to 27-for-47 shooting and induced 16 turnovers that led to 21 points. "I just started demanding [the ball], and it was like a call from above. It just clicked in my head and I just started putting the ball in the hole."

Asked if there was a specific play when it all clicked, Smith shrugged.

Was it the resounding dunk he threw down with 4:46 left, after he wheeled and dealed on Sead Dizdarevic in the open court and split two other defenders? Or was it the pair of back-to-back baskets that pulled BC within 47-45?

"It was right after . . . right before the . . . I don't know, my third or fourth bucket . . . no it was my jump shot," Smith said, referring finally to the open look he made that cut Georgetown's lead to 4, 47-43, with 9:08 left. "From there on, I felt kind of comfortable and it was like, `Let's get these guys.' "

Smith, who also had 12 rebounds, was complemented by the interior play of senior Uka Agbai (17 points) and the perimeter shooting of freshman Sean Marshall (15 points).

"It shows I'm making a statement for myself, as far as Big East opponents," said Smith, who will face a 2-3 zone when the Eagles travel to Syracuse Saturday. "You can zone me up, double-team me, it's not going to stop me."

The Eagles improved to 11-2 overall and 1-0 conference, winning for the first time in six years against the Hoyas (10-1, 1-1). It also was only the second time in 19 games the Eagles won on the road against Georgetown.

After trailing at halftime, 27-26, the Eagles twice tied it (28-28 and 30-30) before the Hoyas opened up a 44-37 lead on a pair of foul shots by Gerald Riley, Georgetown's leading scorer (18.4 ppg) who was held to 9 points on 2-for-13 shooting. BC cut it 44-41 on a pair of foul shots by Jared Dudley (9 points, 11 rebounds), but the Hoyas appeared to take control when Darrel Owens converted a foul-inducing transition basket

to make it 47-41. "Once we got that 6-point lead, they exploded," said Georgetown coach Craig Esherick, whose team hit 24 of 70 shots, taking 23 more than BC. "And we couldn't stop them."

Specifically, the Hoyas could not stop Smith. Perhaps the only person capable of answering was Mike Sweetney, but that former Hoya now toils in the NBA for the New York Knicks. "He's very similar to Mike," Esherick said of Smith. "He can do a lot of the same things."

Smith keyed a 12-6 run by scoring 10 in that stretch, punctuating it with his crowd-wowing dunk that tied it, 53-53. After the Hoyas took a 55-53 lead, Smith scored 6 points in a decisive 11-0 run.

"Winning the game was important," said BC coach Al Skinner. "But when we've struggled, teams have pressed us and turned us over and we've struggled with that. We stumbled through it tonight, but I thought we kept our composure. Guys really started to understand what we really wanted to do."

And that was to get the ball to Craig Smith.