Boston College Athletics
Boston College
Miami Fla
No. 24 Men's Basketball Beats Out Miami, Again
January 13, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 13, 2001
Postgame audio
Troy Bell* Xavier Singletary *Kenny Harley
BOSTON (AP) - Troy Bell couldn't have been better at the free-throw line. The Big East rookie of the year went 17-for-17 at the line, setting a school record, and Kenny Harley scored 17 of 19 points in the second half as Saturday to lead No. 24 Boston College over Miami 82-73.
"We made Kenny Harley the primary ballhandler," Boston College coach Al Skinner said of his second-half adjustment. "It really opened it up because they weren't concerned about the return pass to him for the jumpshot, which he got and made."
Bell, who was just 4-for-12 from the field, finished with a game-high 27 points and Xavier Singletary had 15 for the Eagles (12-1, 3-1 Big East).
"We're young and we don't recognize who's hurting you on the floor," Miami coach Perry Clark said. "I thought Harley did a good job."
Harley broke a 61-all tie with a 3-pointer from the right corner with 4:41 left. He shot 7-for-8 from the field, including 6-for-7 in the second half.
After Rice scored off an offense rebound, Bell made a 3-pointer, Singletary had a layup and Uka Agbai added a dunk, making it 71-63 with 2:16 to go. Before then, Bell had shot just 2-for-10.
"Harley's probably the best ballhandler and penetrator on the team," Singletary said. "We just said do the things you do best, and he came out in the second half and did that."
"Being a senior, I wanted to be more assertive," Harley said.
The Eagles, who spent a week in the Top 25 for the first time since March 1997, beat the Hurricanes for the second time this week. Last Sunday in Miami, they won 73-72 on Jonathan Beerbohm's tip-in with 27 seconds left.
Bell's became the first player in school history to go 17-for-17 at the line and tied the team record for free throws. John Austin was 17-for-18 on Feb. 21, 1964, against Georgetown and Danya Abrams was 17-for-20 in January 1997.
John Salmons led the Hurricanes (8-7, 0-4) with 19 points, and Darius Rice had 17.
Miami, off to its worst conference start since going 0-18 in 1993-94, was without Leroy Hurd and Joe Gordon, its two best reserves.
The Eagles, who shot 50 percent in the first half, had a 12-3 run over the final 2:28 to take a 40-36 edge at the break. Bell had eight points in the spree, including a four-point play.
Boston College, which used a soft early-season schedule to gain confidence before beating Vanderbilt and upsetting Connecticut, was coming off a loss Wednesday at St. John's, which stopped the third-longest winning streak in school history and the longest since 1968-69.
