Boston College
Seton Hall(BIG EAST Tournament)
Eagles Advance To Big East Championship Game
March 09, 2001 | Men's Basketball
March 9, 2001
Postgame Audio
T. Bell | Coach Skinner | J. Beerbohm
By HAL BOCK
AP Sports Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -
With 11:59 to play in Friday night's Big East semifinal, Seton Hall was right there, tied with Boston College at 42, trading baskets with the Eagles, continuing its unlikely run through the conference tournament.
And then, all at once, the Pirates hit the wall.
Boston College scored the next 13 points, paused for a moment, then went on a 15-0 run, drilling Seton Hall 75-48 to reach the championship game of the tournament.
The No. 10 Eagles will play either No. 17 Syracuse or Pittsburgh, who met in the second game of the semifinal doubleheader.
Troy Bell, co-Player of the Year in the Big East, led the Eagles with 24 points, while Xavier Singletary added 15. Ryan Sidney had 11 and Jonathan Beerbohm added 10 points and 10 rebounds.
"When they tied the game, I knew we had to step it up," said Bell, who also had five rebounds and five assists. "We were kind of rushing things on the offensive end. But we got it together."
And when they did, Seton Hall had no answers. The game got out of control in a hurry.
"It feels good to come out and pile up points," Bell said. "Guys did it to us last year, so ..."
So the Eagles are getting even. Their turnaround from 11-19 and 3-13 in the conference last year to 25-4 and 13-3 is one of the most remarkable reversals in college basketball.
"Every game is payback for us," Bell said. "That's how we look at it."
Seton Hall, playing its fourth must-win game in six days, simply ran out of energy down the stretch against a BC team that had a bye to start the tournament.
"When things got a little tough, they helped us run out of steam," said Seton Hall coach Tommy Amaker. "It's been a tough journey. We were excited by the opportunity to do something special, but we ran into what I think is the best team in our league."
Certainly BC looked like that in the final 12 minutes, denying Seton Hall on possession after possession and taking complete command of the game.
"We wanted to make them work," BC coach Al Skinner said. "I guess it had some effect over 40 minutes. It was not our best defensive effort, but it was a good one. I was impressed with how smart we played in the last 10 minutes."
Once BC (25-4) shifted into overdrive, Seton Hall managed just two more baskets the rest of the way..
The Eagles went on a 13-0 run over the next 4:11, with Sidney and Uka Agbai each scoring consecutive baskets. Meanwhile, Seton Hall (16-14) seemed out of answers. After Eddie Griffin's 3-point play interrupted the run for the Pirates, BC went on another 15-0 run that was touched off by consecutive 3-pointers by Sidney and Bell.
Seton Hall's only other basket in the final eight minutes was a meaningless 3-pointer by Darius Lane, who had 13 for the game. Griffin led the Pirates with 14 points and 11 rebounds, but made just five of 14 shots from the field.
It was Lane's last-gasp basket that beat Connecticut last Saturday and allowed the Pirates to make it into the Big East tournament. Once ranked as high as No. 7, Seton Hall struggled through a contentious season, losing eight of nine down the stretch and nearly missing the tournament.
The win over UConn gave the Pirates a second chance and they made the most of it, beating St. John's and Georgetown decisively to reach ther semis. But they didn't have much left for BC, who have won six straight and turned a close semifinal into a rout.
