By Zachary McMahon –
The No. 11 Boston College Eagles went up against No. 14 Miami Hurricanes in the first round of the ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament at the Capital One Arena in Washington D.C on Tuesday night.
Boston College came into the tournament with an 8-12 conference record while the Hurricanes ended the regular season with a 6-14 conference record.
The Eagles had swept the Hurricanes during the regular season, including more recently on March 6 in Coral Gables when they came away with a 67-57 win. The Hurricanes have a 2-1 advantage in the ACC Tournament against the Eagles since BC joined the conference in the 2005-06 season. Most recently, Miami defeated BC with a buzzer-beater in overtime from Jordan Miller in the 2022 ACC Tournament Quarterfinals.
The Eagles dominated in the first half after they jumped out to a 17-1 run for four minutes in the middle of the half after Miami tied it at 13 with a three-pointer from Nijel Pack, who had not made a field goal in the previous two games for the Hurricanes. Quinten Post scored 17 points in the half with two three-pointers and made all five free throws in that half. The Eagles made eight three-pointers in the first half.
In the second half, Miami was able to put up some momentum as they outscored BC 14-9 in the first five minutes of the half. Later in the half after the Hurricanes were able to cut the deficit to 64-56, BC would use a 7-0 run to put the game away as they would go on to win 81-65, as for the third year in a row the Eagles will move on to the second round in the ACC Tournament
Post got the double-double with 30 points and 13 rebounds, which is the third time this season that he has had a double-double with 30+ points and 11+ rebounds, and his second in the last four games.
Joining Post in double-figures for the Eagles is Jaeden Zackery with 16 points, Claudell Harris Jr., with 12, and Devin McGlockton with 10. Donald Hand Jr. had all seven points from the bench for the Eagles including a massive throwdown dunk in the final two minutes of the game.
The BC Eagles will face off against the No. 6 Clemson Tigers on Wednesday night at 9:30 p.m. in the second round. That game will be broadcast on ESPN2 or ESPNU or can be listened to online on WEEI 850 AM. The winner of tomorrow’s game will go on to face No. 3 Virginia Tech on Thursday at 9:30 p.m in the quarterfinal round.