Slow start finishes BC

MILWAUKEE -- They put themselves in position to win.

That's all anyone could ask given everything that seemed to conspire against the Boston College men's basketball team in yesterday's 57-54 loss to third-seeded Georgia Tech in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Still, the mere fact the sixth-seeded Eagles were in such a position against the dangerously athletic Yellow Jackets might have seemed preposterous to everyone in the Bradley Center crowd of 18,866 who witnessed the matchup of future Atlantic Coast Conference opponents.

Everyone, that is, except the people on BC's bench.

"There was no question in our mind that we were going to be put in a position to win the game," said Eagles coach Al Skinner, even after his team got 2 points, 6 rebounds, and 22 minutes from foul-plagued Craig Smith, trailed by as many as 11 points (44-33) in the second half, and tied a season high with 22 turnovers that led to 21 Georgia Tech points. "We started fighting back, getting a little closer, and there was no question we couldn't win the game.

"I credit Georgia Tech for making free throws and making plays. They defended us well."

The Yellow Jackets, who committed 17 turnovers that led to 15 BC points, not only defended well, they defended early, often, and late when it counted most.

"I'm sure it wasn't the prettiest game to watch," said Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt, whose team got a game-high 18 points from B.J. Elder. "We had two teams out there that really went after each other and battled and they took away some of the things that we like to do and we worked really hard to take away some of the things that they like to do.

"It was more like an old-fashioned Big East game, that's what it looked like out there."

Which was to say, a slugfest.

After Jermaine Watson (11 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists) hit the second of two foul shots to lift BC to a 54-53 lead with one minute remaining, Jarrett Jack helped Georgia Tech earn its first Sweet 16 appearance since 1996 -- advancing to St. Louis as the highest remaining seed after No. 9 Alabama-Birmingham upset top-seeded Kentucky -- by getting the best of his former Worcester Academy teammates, Smith and BC freshman guard Steve Hailey.

"We know nobody wants to go home in the tournament," said Jack, who had 8 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 steals, the second of which was the biggest in the game. "We threw a lot at them, and we had to withstand what they were going to throw back at us. They came back real hard. We came back and kept our composure and pulled out the W."

His team trailing by 1 with 34.8 seconds left in the game and 10 on the shot clock, Jack came out of a final Tech 30-second timeout and attacked the basket. He seemed to leave the ball exposed when he put it behind his back and spun into the lane, inducing Smith to foul out and getting to the line for a pair of foul shots that gave the Yellow Jackets a 55-54 lead with 30 seconds left.

Watson then missed a lane runner but chased down the long rebound to help the Eagles get another crack. Jack, however, made a game-breaking steal of a desperation kick-out by Hailey and went coast-to-coast for a breakaway slam that gave Tech a 3-point cushion with 5.5 seconds left.

"I kind of felt Hailey drive to the basket," Jack said. "Luke [Schenscher, Georgia Tech's 7-foot-1-inch Australian center] stepped over and kind of made it difficult for him to shoot it, and [Hailey] tried to throw it back, but I just stepped over and stole the pass."

Even as grim as BC's prospects appeared at that point, it still had one last-gasp chance with 5.5 seconds left when Watson curled around a key-top screen and let fly a 3-pointer. Watson's shot, which would have tied it, hit the back of the rim, bounced off the front, and almost dropped, but it fell off the rim.

The fact the Eagles (24-10) were within 4 (35-31) at halftime after twice trailing by 11 (16-5 and 20-9) seemed highly improbable, especially after the inside duo of Uka Agbai and Smith (who combined for 10 points and 9 rebounds overall) were held scoreless and without a rebound in the first half. But the Eagles fought back in the second half, holding the Yellow Jackets to 4 points in the final six minutes and rallying from a 44-33 deficit to tie it, 53-53, on Jared Dudley's key-top trey with 2:49 to go.

When Watson hit a foul shot with one minute to go for a 54-53 lead, the Eagles were in position to win the game. It was a position no one thought BC would find itself in when the Jackets (25-9) hit their first six shots in the first five minutes of the game.

"With Craig Smith in foul trouble, with Uka in foul trouble, the other guys stepped up, and that's an indication of what this team is about," Skinner said. "I was proud of them the way they handled themselves. They could have felt sorry for themselves. They could have given in, but they continued to fight back.

"You couldn't have told me when were down by [11 points] that we'd have a 1-point lead with 30 seconds left," Skinner added. "We put ourselves in a position to win the game, and that's all you can ask for."