McGlockton and Harris powered the Eagles to a win
Donning charcoal jerseys with maroon and gold trim, the Boston College men’s basketball team gutted out a 95-87 victory over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. BC started the game well, but faltered late in the first half. They stormed back in the second half thanks to career games from Devin McGlockton and Claudell Harris.
Georgia Tech won the opening tip but Boston College drew first blood on Devin McGlockton’s three pointer from the left wing. But the Yellow Jackets took their first lead of the game off of a dunk and a layup. Quinten Post responded with a jumper to give the Eagles the lead again and a few minutes later, McGlockton hit another three from the same spot on the wing to put BC up 13-7 at the first break in the action.
McGlockton hit two free throws after the timeout, giving him eight points in the first five minutes of the game. Georgia Tech big man, Baye Ndongo, hit a fadeaway jumper on the baseline on his team’s next possession to make the score 15-9.
Post hit another layup, but then Ndongo sent his defender reeling after a quick stop and found himself all alone for an easy bucket. McGlockton became the first double-digit scorer after making a layup with 13:08 to give BC a 19-16 lead.
After two minutes with no scoring by either team, the Yellow Jackets hit two back-to-back threes, putting them up 22-21. They extended that lead by two after a pair of free throws from Deebo Coleman. Tech continued their hot shooting with a few quick buckets, pushing their lead to seven and forcing Earl Grant to call a timeout with 8:24 remaining in the first half.
The Eagles responded after the break with a Claudell Harris jumper, but Tech’s Ndongo scored again, giving him ten points in the first half. Post broke his scoring drought with a three and Harris followed with a three of his own on the next possession, bringing BC within one point, 32-31. After a Yellow Jacket bucket, Harris hit his fourth shot of the game on a spinning jump shot and then forced a GT turnover a few moments later.
Georgia Tech hit two more threes and McGlockton scored again, but BC trailed 40-35 with under four minutes left. Post made his fifth shot of the game on a driving layup that also earned him a free throw, which he sank. But Ndongo once again responded with a monster dunk on the other end and then Kowacie Reeves Jr., Ndongo, and Kyle Sturdivant all hit threes for the Yellow Jackets, giving them a 51-38 lead going into halftime.
The story at the half was Georgia Tech’s lights out shooting from beyond the arc and their 11-0 run the end the period. The Yellow Jackets shot an incredible 50% from three, making nine of their 18 attempts. Overall, they shot 57.1% from the field, and went on an impressive run over the final few minutes to take a 13-point lead at the break.
The Eagles also shot the ball well and maintained a 45.4% field goal percentage in the first half, but they just couldn’t keep up with the hot hands of Georgia Tech. BC only made five of their 13 three pointers, and seemed to settle for them too often, instead of working the ball inside. Post had 13 points on 50% shooting and McGlockton had 12 on four of six shooting. That duo had well over half of BC’s points in the initial half and would need help if the Eagles wanted to make a comeback.
The Yellow Jackets came out hot in the second half, hitting another three on their first possession, but their offense cooled off significantly as the half progreessed. BC’s first points of the half came off two free throws and a driving layup by Prince Aligbe. Devin McGlockton brought BC closer with two layups, one of which was an and-one that he converted. So, with 16:49 left in the second, the Eagles trailed 54-46.
On BC’s next possession, Claudell Harris put BC within four points after converting an and-one after making a three. After a two pointer from GT, Aligbe hit just his second three of the season and made the score 56-53, Georgia Tech. The teams traded buckets over the next few minutes, and Donald Hand hit a three for his first points of the game, making the score 63-60 with 11:30 left in the game.
After a timeout, Claudell Harris continued his big game with a corner three that tied the game with just over 10 minutes left. Devin McGlockton made a layup after a nice feed from Post to give BC their first lead, 67-66, since early in the first half.
Chas Kelly made his second basket of the day on an easy jumper and extended the lead to three. After GT failed to score, Kelly came right back and hit a three and a layup to give BC an eight-point lead, 74-68.
Georgia Tech scored five quick points to draw closer, and then stole the ball from Harris, which turned into an easy dunk in transition. The Jackets then tied the game at 76 apiece on a free throw. The Eagles turned the ball over again, and Tech’s Tyzhaun Claude threw down a dunk and converted the and-one to give his team a 79-76 lead.
Claudell Harris silenced the crowd with a pull-up three and tied the game again wiith 3:54 remaining. McGlockton hit his third triple of the game and gave BC an 82-79 lead with just over three minutes left.
After a lengthy review, the referees called a flagrant foul against Georgia Tech. Harris sank the free throw and, on BC’s next possession, there was a technical foul assessed against Damon Stoudamire, GT’s head coach.
Harris hit three more free throws after the technical and a shooting foul, and the Eagles held an 86-79 lead with 2:50 left. Harris was fouled again on an attempted dunk; he made one free throw to extend BC’s run to 11-0 and the lead to eight points.
McGlockton hit another jumper, giving him 26 points on the game, and BC maintained a 89-81 lead with one minute left and the game was pretty much decided after that.
Devin McGlockton finished with 30 points on 12 of 15 shooting, while Claudell Harris scored 26 points on 80% shooting. Quinten Post also added 15 points and seven assists in the 95-87 win.
Despite being down by as many as 16, the Eagles maintained their composure and earned one of their best wins of the season and their first victory in conference play. Boston College will take on a 10-4 Syracuse team on Wednesday night as they look to improve their ACC record to 2-2.