Boston College played Miami for the 57th time.
Boston College guard Mason Madsen (45) and North Carolina State guard Casey Morsell battle for a loose ball Saturday at Conte Forum. BC fell in overtime, 84-78. (Staff Photo/Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)
On a day when Boston College was “Recognizing Greatness,” the Eagles’ delivered a remarkable victory.
BC closed out the contest with a 17-4 run to beat Miami 85-77 before a capacity crowd of 8,606 on Saturday at Conte Forum. BC improved to 15-10 and 6-8 with its second win on the homestand while the Canes dropped to 15-11 and 6-9. BC resumes play on Feb. 20 at Florida State.
BC shot 47.5% from the floor with 15 three-pointers, 37 rebounds and 15 assists. Senior guard Mason Madsen led BC with a career high 25 points that included seven made three-point shots. Quinten Post scored 23 with six rebounds.
“We were pursuing 40 minutes of BC basketball,” said Madsen. “Miami is a very talented basketball team and we needed every single shot we made tonight and feels good to come out a win.”
BC held a Black History Month ceremony at halftime to posthumously retire the jersey John Austin, the program’s first African-American player and first All-American. Austin wore three different numbers (10, 12, 30) during his time at the Heights and his banner unfurled alongside Troy Bell and below John Bagley.
The 1993-1994 BC team that advanced to the Elite 8 was also honored on the 30th anniversary of the program’s deepest run in the NCAA tournament. Newly hired football coach Bill O’Brien was sitting courtside, which further juiced the house.
Austin, a 6-1 guard, played from 1963-1966 and immediately established himself as one of the top scorers in the country. Austin averaged 29.2 points per game as a sophomore, 26.9 as a junior and 25.4 as a senior. Austin posted those lofty numbers prior to the NCAA’s introduction of the 3-point shot in 1986. He was inducted into the BC Hall of Fame in 1972.
“He kind of blazed a trail for all the student athletes after him,” said BC coach Earl Grant. “To be able to attract him here was a big deal and I’m really proud of the impact he made as a student athlete here.”
Tied at 41 at the break, both teams began the second half with renewed energy and urgency and it showed up on the scoreboard. Madsen, who made his third straight start, drained a pair for downtown to give BC and 57-56 lead into the first media timeout.
The game evolved into a take no prisoners affair that went back and forth. Guard Jaeden Zackery (11) cut the Canes’ lead to 73-72 on a contentious drive with 4:21 to play. Down by five, BC ran off nine straight to take a 77-73 lead on a 3-ball by Madsen with 2:12 to play. There was no stopping the BC run after that.
“There a couple of things and one was to knock down a couple of free throws,” said Grant. “Two, we switched out defense and went to a match-up zone 2-2-1. I thought we got critical stops back, to back, to back and is disrupted some of their rhythm.”
BC seldom gets off to a fast start, but the Eagles drained four of six from behind the arc to take a 18-7 lead into the first media timeout. Madsen accounted for two during the run. The Canes took advantage some errant BC passes and cut the lead to 21-16 at the second timeout.
“That was a great start and that progress,” said Grant. “We’ve been talking about getting off to a great start and not be on the other side of it and I’m really proud we were able to do that.”
Miami enjoyed 12-8 surge and cut BC’s lead to 29-28 on a 3-ball by Bensley Joseph with 8:22 to play. Miami took its first lead, 31-30, on a turnaround jumper in the paint by Matthew Cleveland 6:07 to play.
