Dec. 9, 2007
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COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) - On a night when it rallied from behind, then hung on for dear life to win, Boston College won its Atlantic Coast Conference opener on the road against Maryland.
Tyrese Rice scored 19 points to lead the Eagles (7-1, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) to a 81-78 victory over Maryland. His final 2 points came on a pair of free throws with four seconds to play that clinched the win for the Eagles.
John Oates also hit a free throw with one second left for the final margin.
Maryland (6-4, 0-1) trailed 71-62 with just 1:28 to play, but hit five straight 3-pointers to close within 78-77.
"I think we learned some things about ourselves and how we should handle this type of situation," said Boston College coach Al Skinner. "We are fortunate to win, I would hope next time we would do a better job."
Freshman Corey Raji came off the bench and added 17 points, 12 coming during a key stretch midway through the second half that saw the Eagles rally from six points down into a 55-49 lead with 6:53 to play.
"It feels good. I knew I had to come off the bench and produce," said Raji. "I hit free throws in the long run, wide open threes; I just hit shots."
Maryland was led by James Gist, who had 18 points and 11 rebounds for the second double-double of the season and 10th of his career.
Greivis Vasquez had 11 points, five rebounds and six assists, but his double-foul with 10:30 left resulted in a seven-point swing during a decisive 22-7 run by the Eagles that turned the game around.
Maryland led 43-37 with 12:25 to play. A basket by Tyrelle Blair closed the score to 43-39, then Vasquez was called for a foul on Shamari Spears. Vasquez reacted wildly to the call, hitting the basket support and was slapped with a technical -- giving him five fouls and sending him to the bench with 10:30 to play.
"He's been our leading scorer. It's a weapon you need," Maryland coach Gary Williams said of losing Vasquez so early in the final half. "I thought we did a pretty good job making up for him."
The foul and technical led to four free throws tying it at 43. Boston College eventually pushed its lead to 59-50 with about six minutes to go.
After making just one 3-pointer the entire game, Maryland made five in the final 78 seconds.
"It shows this team has heart and we're not going to go away no matter what the situation," said Gist. "This is one of those games you give your all but still lose."
