Boston College Athletics
Boston College
Providence
No. 10 Men's Basketball Defeats Providence, 59-58
February 24, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 24, 2001
By JIM O'CONNELL
AP Basketball Writer
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Boston College went into last year's Big East tournament with almost no chance at winning a game.
In this season's conference tournament, the Eagles will be one of four teams to get an opening-round bye.
The 10th-ranked Eagles continued their pursuit of becoming the first team in league history to go from last to first with a 59-58 victory over No. 25 Providence on Saturday.
"It clearly improves your chances to have some wins in the tournament," Boston College coach Al Skinner said of the bye into the quarterfinals that was clinched with this win. "No team has won four games in the Big East championship, so from that standpoint it's very important if we're going to make a run for that thing."
Last season, the Eagles (20-4, 11-3) went into the opening round of the tournament with a 10-18 record and lost to Connecticut by 15 points to cap their third straight losing season.
"Our seniors won't allow us to play non-aggressively because they've had some terrible years here and they're not going to give it back," Skinner said. "They have one last shot."
Boston College overcame its worst shooting game of the season (31.1 percent) by finishing with a 46-31 rebound advantage - 24-11 on the offensive end - and using its pressure defense to force 17 turnovers by the Friars (20-8, 10-5).
"The middle part of the second half was a killer. We couldn't get a rebound and turned it over," Providence coach Tim Welsh said. "Twenty-four offensive rebounds, you can't allow that many second chances. It was one of those nights, but our guys still hung in there even though our game wasn't there in a lot of respects but BC had a lot to do with that."
Providence led 31-23 at halftime in holding the Eagles to their lowest scoring 20 minutes of the season.
With 9:25 to play, and Providence leading 48-47, Troy Bell, who leads the Eagles in scoring at 20.5 points per game, picked up his fourth personal foul. While he was out, the Eagles went on an 8-1 run and they led 57-49 when Bell returned with 4:52 to play.
"We were trying to put our press on at the point but we couldn't score," Welsh said. "They're not a one-man team. You don't win 20 games in this league as a one-man team. They don't have to have him scoring 25 points to win."
Both teams struggled offensively down the stretch, but Boston College was up 59-53 with 1:07 to play. Providence scored the next five points, the last two a drive by John Lenihan with 17 seconds left that made it 59-58.
Kenny Harley of Boston College missed two free throws with 9.9 seconds to play. Providence's final chance came on an inbounds play with 5.8 seconds left and after teammate Maris Laksa almost lost the ball, Romauld Augustin's jumper from about 15 feet bounced off the rim as the buzzer sounded.
"I shot the ball quick because I didn't think there was enough time to catch it and square up," Augustin said.
Boston College had some bad flashbacks to Wednesday night's loss at Notre Dame when Martin Inglesby hit a leaner from the foul line with 3.7 seconds left.
"I thought the ball was going in," Bell said. "It wouldn't have been fair if the ball went in after the last game. We needed some justice."
Bell and Uka Agbai each had 16 points for the Eagles. Agbai, who broke the middle finger on his right hand trying to block a shot in the first half, had 14 points and four of his seven rebounds in the second half.
Harley led the Eagles with 11 rebounds but he was 2-for-12 from the field and 0-for-4 from the free-throw line.
Linehan had 13 points for the Friars, while Karim Shabazz had 12, all in the second half.
Boston College, who beat Providence 81-73 in the earlier meeting this season, can clinch first place in the Big East's East Division if St. John's loses Sunday at Villanova.
