In a tight game that was back-and-forth all afternoon and into OT, Boston College failed in the final minutes in Chapel Hill against the North Carolina Tar Heels on Saturday for a 102-96 loss. It was an incredible game that featured a lot of resilience from both teams who were able to overcome some late obstacles in a game that changed leads several times in the final minutes. The offenses were both running on all cylinders and both team’s shooters had an impressive day.
BTW I think Dion Brown heard us.
Dion Brown’s shooting was a huge reason that BC was able to stay competitive with North Carolina early in this game. Carolina was bullying BC in the paint and scoring really efficiently, especially considering all of the fouls they were drawing. But Brown hit a flurry of threes and was really aggressive offensively and led the Eagles to make their offense flow better. It allowed Venning to get some great inside one-on-ones too and BC was able to get to halftime trailing only by 1 point.
Donald Hand was absolutely electric as the game entered the second half. He hit multiple threes from Curry range, he was hitting mid-range shots left and right, and he was driving to the paint for lay-ups and fouls. Hand’s heroics (26 total points) kept BC in the lead for much of the final stretch, but UNC never fell far behind with their relentless attacks at the rim. BC was in foul trouble early and it allowed the Tar Heels to just keep pushing into the paint to draw contact or score a bucket. UNC didn’t always hit their free throws, but they were certainly getting more of them than BC was.
Jayden Hastings and Chad Venning also came up huge late in the game. Hastings scored three straight baskets for the Eagles while the lead was switching back and forth and his presence in the paint gave BC some much needed consistency. And then Venning took control of the game with just over a minute left, drawing a foul and then scoring a huge post-up for a 2-point BC lead.
North Carolina took one too many passes on their following offensive possession and BC grabbed a steal. And then Joshua Beadle hit a tough hook shot on the baseline to make it a 4-point BC lead with just about 30 seconds left. UNC’s Seth Trimble was able to draw a shooting foul on the next trip up and cut the lead back down to 2 with his free throws. And then when Chas Kelley received a 5-second violation on the following inbound, UNC was right back in business. The Tar Heels called Trimble’s name again and he scored at the basket to tie the game with just 12 seconds left.
Earl Grant’s strategy out of that timeout was rather baffling. UNC full-court pressed the Eagles on their inbound, but instead of taking advantage of this, BC instead opted to walk it up the court and call timeout with just about 5 seconds remaining. That gave the Tar Heels another chance to defend and use up their remaining fouls, which they did in order to get the clock down to 3 seconds. Chas Kelley then made another mistake on the inbound, throwing it straight to a UNC player and causing a turnover. North Carolina couldn’t hit a buzzer-beater, so the game went to OT.
It was back-and-forth once again in OT, with Hand and Venning taking over on offense and keeping the Eagles in the game despite some sharp UNC shooting. But Seth Trimble would just not go away, as he scored an incredibly difficult shot in the paint to give UNC a 2-point lead with a minute remaining. Luka Toews missed a three on the other end and Chad Venning fouled out on a soft blocking call off of a screen. That allowed UNC to up their lead to 4 points and then 6 points when BC’s last second desperation didn’t pay off and the game ended.
Boston College’s losing streak now stands at 6 games in a row. The Eagles next play against 13-6 Florida State on Saturday February 1st in Conte Forum.