“That kind of day,’’ he said, shaking his head.

A few minutes earlier, his Eagles had dropped their sixth game in a row, 51-47, to a Georgia Tech team that ended a six-game slide.

“I thought it was a hard-fought game and you could tell both teams were in dire need of a win,’’ Donahue said.

With both teams hanging around the cellar of the Atlantic Coast Conference, there wasn’t a great deal at stake. There was some drama, however.

The game was tied at 44 with less than three minutes remaining, making every possession critical. But just like in several other recent losses, it was the other team making the plays and not BC (7-16, 2-7).

Glen Rice Jr. followed up his own miss with a put-back that gave Georgia Tech (9-14, 2-7) a 48-45 lead with 47 seconds left. The Eagles’ Lonnie Jackson was fouled with 16 seconds left and hit both free throws to cut the deficit to 1. BC then had to start fouling, and the Yellow Jackets hit their free throws to seal the win.

“We really wanted to pull that one out,’’ said Matt Humphrey, who hit three 3-pointers and had a game-high 15 points for BC. “It was right there and we’ve been right there for our last three games. That last four- or five-minute stretch, we always seem not to get it done.’’

Because Donahue has such a young team - four of yesterday’s top five scorers are freshmen - he said he is worried about the Eagles’ confidence during this rough patch.

“It’s difficult, obviously, with so many young guys never playing college basketball before,’’ he said. “They come from great, successful programs and for the first time they’re really having some failure.’’

Jackson, who had 10 points, said the Eagles can’t hide from their situation. At the same time, they can’t dwell on it.

“I feel like we’re getting better, so we’re just trying to take positives out of each game,’’ he said. “But it’s really tough right now for our team.’’

Georgia Tech had a 30-14 advantage in points in the paint. A big reason for the disparity was that 7-footer Dennis Clifford spent most of the second half on the bench after picking up his fourth foul with 19:05 remaining.

“Without Dennis in there, it’s hard to find someone that can score down there,’’ Donahue said.

Jackson hit two free throws to give BC a 16-11 lead, but the Eagles didn’t score again until Jackson hit a three at the end of the first half to cut the Yellow Jackets’ lead to 20-19.

The 19 points represented the Eagles’ lowest first-half total of the season. Their lowest total in a half is 13, against Harvard Dec. 29.

Jackson’s field goal was BC’s first since Clifford’s layup with 10:42 remaining in the half. In between, the Eagles missed eight straight shots and committed eight turnovers.

“We’re going to go through droughts like that,’’ Jackson said. “We did enough to stay in the game, now we’ve just got to start figuring out how to win games.’’

Late in the game, after Jackson cut the Yellow Jackets’ lead to 48-47, BC was forced to foul. The Eagles had to do it twice to get over the limit and send Tech to the line. The second foul didn’t come until there were just 11.3 seconds remaining.

Tech’s Brandon Reed hit his free throws and Jackson missed a long heave that he said he forced up too quickly. Soon after, Tech was able to celebrate - something the Eagles haven’t been able to do since Jan. 14 when they beat Virginia Tech.

The Eagles are back in action Wednesday against No. 21 Florida State at Conte Forum.