Change of pace goes in BC's favor

BC's Joe Trapani corrals a rebound in front of St. John's Sean Evans. (charles krupa/Associated Press)

There's a point, said Boston College coach Al Skinner, where experimentation and creativity aren't important anymore and the basketball game has to be played with a purpose.

In last night's contest against St. John's at Conte Forum, that point was when Eagles guard Tyrese Rice slowed his dribble to almost a metronome's pace. He tugged at his jersey, and the heart rate of the game changed.

He pulled at his shirt the same way in the first half. Only at that point he was calling a play for Joe Trapani. His body language sent a completely different signal this time. Instead of letting Trapani set a pick, then pop out for a 3-pointer, Rice used the screen to get himself an open look at a three that split the nets and tied it at 55.

The Eagles ran the same play seven minutes later, but it was less urgent, more like icing. They had played what Skinner considered their best stretch of this short season, a 14-4 run iced when Trapani picked, popped, and hit the three again.

It was Trapani's 15th point on a night that saw him score 19. It was the eighth of nine assists for Rice, who scored a game-high 28. The final score was 82-70, but it was over after that run. The win punched the Eagles' ticket to Madison Square Garden for next week's championship round of this NIT Season Tip-Off tourney, with a weekend trip to play Saint Louis in between.

"The last six minutes or seven minutes of that ballgame was clearly some of the best execution we've had," Skinner said. "When you can do that coming down the stretch, that's the reason for the difference in the ballgame."

For a while, it looked as though it would never come. The Eagles were dancing without rhythm in the first half, figuring ways to cope with just how athletic the Red Storm were.

They dived over media tables and television equipment, rabid for loose balls. Their swingmen stayed at eye-level with the rim, making dunks as if they were layup attempts. Their guards sneaked behind BC's big men like pickpockets, turning steals into fast breaks.

But the best thing for the Eagles wasn't to bend to St. John's style of play, but simply to withstand it. So they got buckets on broken plays. They cashed in on second chances. They made the most out of mishaps, and they turned St. John's dumb fouls into 4-point plays.

Strictly improvising, BC's Biko Paris knocked down a shot from in front of the St. John's bench that could have just as easily been a turnover if Rice hadn't rescued the loose ball. The basket killed a 12-2 St. John's run and got the Eagles even, 21-21, midway through the first half.

In a bit of acting, Rice made a victim out of St. John's freshman Tyshwan Edmondson, launching a three from the top of the key, getting Edmondson to brush him, then falling back to make sure the academy, er, referee, made the right call. The 4-point play put the Eagles up by 1.

Those plays put them in a position to fix the flaws in the second half, something Skinner was most proud of.

"We weren't scrambling," Skinner said. "The ball wasn't just bouncing around and we just happened to score; it was with direction and a purpose and we got the results we were looking for."

Said Rice, "You look at a game like that last year, that game probably would have came down to the last two possessions and that would have been it.

But this year, everybody was focused in the huddle. Everybody knew exactly what we needed to get done."