Boston College Athletics
Boston College
St. John's*
Men's Basketball Sinks St. John's, 84-82
February 05, 2003 | Men's Basketball
Feb 5, 2003
By JIMMY GOLEN
AP Sports Writer
BOSTON - Troy Bell scored 29, including the game-winning 3-pointer, and Craig Smith had 21 points and nine rebounds to go with a key blocked shot Wednesday night as Boston College beat St. John's 84-82.
Smith blocked a shot that could have been the winner with 5 seconds left. He then corralled a loose ball after St. John's botched the inbound play, sank a free throw, got the rebound after he missed his second foul shot and dribbled out the clock.
Ryan Sidney had 11 points and eight rebounds for BC (11-8, 4-4 Big East), which has won three consecutive conference games after starting out 1-4 in conference play.
Marcus Hatten had 24 points, seven assists and five rebounds for St. John's (11-7, 4-4), which lost to BC for just the second time in 10 games. Anthony Glover scored 19.
The Eagles led by as many as eight points, 65-57, with 10 minutes left, but St. John's tied it at 73. It was 80-80 when Smith got tied up, giving the ball to St. John's. Eric King sliced through the lane to give the Red Storm the lead with 1:23 left.
Bell hit his fifth 3-pointer of the game to give Boston College an 83-82 lead, then the teams traded turnovers: Hatten stepped on the baseline with 47 seconds left, and Bell was called for a charge.
After St. John's took a timeout with 23 seconds left, Smith partially blocked Grady Reynolds' shot, and the ball went out of bounds and back to St. John's with 4.4 seconds left.
After three timeouts, Hatten threw the ball off Bell to avoid a five-second call. He couldn't find anyone open the next time, either, but this when he tried to bounce the ball off Bell again it bounced under Bell's legs and toward midcourt.
Smith grabbed it and was fouled with 3.1 seconds left. He made the first free throw and put the second off the front of the rim. Andrew Bryant tipped it back to Smith, who dribbled out the clock.
St. John's led 32-30 before Bell hit a 3-pointer to trigger a 9-2 run that helped give BC a 41-38 lead at the half.
BC opened its biggest lead of the game on Bell's three-point play that made it 65-57 with 10? minutes left in the game. St. John's answered by scoring eight of the next 10 points and then tied it at 73 on Elijah Ingram's 3-pointer with 5:31 left.
