Boston College
Michigan
Men's Basketball Defeats Michigan 62-58
December 02, 2009 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 2, 2009
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Junior Corey Raji scored a game-high 24 points and classmate Joe Trapani totaled 11 points and 12 rebounds to lead Boston College to a 62-58 win over Michigan before 10,718 fans in the Crisler Arena.
Sophomore Reggie Jackson tallied 15 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
The host Wolverines held their only leads of the night in the opening minutes. Raji's hoop with 16:34 remaining in the first half gave BC a 9-7 advantage, a lead the visitors would not relinquish.
The Eagles followed that basket with a 14-5 run to claim a 23-12 margin with 9:09 left before the intermission.
Michigan answered with a 6-0 rally, but BC responded with six straight points of its own. Raji scored four of those six points, giving him 17 points and the Eagles a 29-18 advantage.
After Trapani sank a three-pointer with 36 seconds left in the half, BC entered the locker room with a 34-24 cushion.
BC shot 53.8 percent from the field in the opening half, while limiting the Wolverines to 28.1 percent shooting.
The Eagles scored the first seven points of the second half (four by Raji) to extend their margin to 17 points at 41-24. Michigan then used a 7-0 run to reduce its deficit back to 10 points.
Michigan didn't close the margin to single digits, before BC twice more led by 17 points, the last time coming at 57-40 with 5:05 to play.
The Wolverines made a final rally, hitting three three-pointers on an 11-0 run to close to within six points - 57-51 - with 1:57 left. Michigan
Jackson sank five (of six) free throws in the final minute to secure the win for the Eagles.
Michigan's lay-in at the buzzer narrowed the margin to four points, which is as close as the score had been since 15-12 with 14:10 left in the first half.
Game Notes: Trapani's three-pointer with 36 seconds to play in the first half snapped a string of 82:38 that BC had not sank a three-point field goal. Prior to last night, BC's last three-pointer came with 3:14 left in the first half of its game against Northern Iowa (Nov. 23) ... BC gained a 43-32 rebounding edge against the Wolverines. The Eagles have now outrebounded all seven foes this season, six by double digits (and one - Saint Joseph's - by eight) ... Junior Josh Southern totaled four points, two rebounds and two assists in 26 minutes of action in his return to his home state. Southern and director of basketball operations Preston Murphy both hail from Saginaw, Mich., a city 86 miles north of Ann Arbor ... BC was credited with an assist on 18 of its 23 field goals last night (an impressive 78.2 percent) ... The game marked Trapani's first double double of the season - and the seventh of his BC career ... Raji shot 11-for-16 from the field. His career high for field goals in a single game is 12 (vs. Maine, 12-23-08) ... Much like Jared Dudley used to do, Jackson has shown a knack for "filling the stat sheet" (i.e. registering a number in all/most every column). Last night, the sophomore was short only a steal.
