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TAMPA, FLA. - Tyrese Rice knew he had to do something. With Boston College down by 14 points to the University of Miami early in the second half, and Jared Dudley still without a field goal, Rice willed the Eagles back into the game with an array of clutch shots. With 32 seconds left in regulation, he delivered the final blow of the comeback with a 3-pointer to tie the score 64-64, sending the game to overtime.
"We were kind of down on defense, down on offense, we weren't really going the way we could. I just felt like I needed to create a little bit more for my team and it worked out," said Rice, who was 9-14 from the field, including 6-of-10 from 3-point range for a career- high 32 points.
Dudley had to solve Miami's defense in one key moment to earn his team the victory. The ACC Player of the Year converted a three-point play after hitting a layup in between two Miami defenders to put BC ahead for good as the fourth-seeded Eagles (20-10, 10-6) escaped the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament with a thrilling 74-71 victory over the 12th-seeded Hurricanes (12-20, 4-12) at the St. Pete Times Forum.
"You could throw stats out when it comes to me," said Dudley, who had just 12 points in the contest. "I'm all about just wins, and now we get to play another game."
After losing four of their last five, the Eagles seemed destined to follow the same blueprint of their recent losses with Dudley's struggles and a large, seemingly insurmountable deficit early in the second half.
Facing a confident Miami team that had upset fifth-seeded Maryland the day before further compounded the issue for the BC.
This time, however, the Eagles did not fold.
Fighting to overcome a 10-point deficit throughout the first 10 minutes of the second half, the Eagles finally cut the lead to single digits with a 5-0 run, capped off by Rice's three at 6:04 to cut the Miami lead to 58-53.
The Hurricanes held the Eagles at bay until a 6-0 surge brought BC to within two at 62-60 with 1:43 to play.
After James Dews' jumper made it a two-possession game, John Oates converted on one of two free throws after being fouled on a drive at 1:00.
A rushed jumper by Miami's Jack McClinton gave the Eagles the ball and a full shot clock to work with, setting up Rice's straightaway three, which hit the front iron and dropped softly through the net to tie the game.
In overtime, the Eagles fell behind and trailed, 69-66, after McClinton, who led the Hurricanes with 16 points, drilled a three midway through the extra period.
Oates responded on the other end, nailing a three from the wing to tie the game. The junior forward contributed 14 points, his highest output of the year, and 10 above his per-game average.
After Miami regained the lead on Dwayne Collins' dunk, Dudley's three- point play gave BC its first lead since the opening minutes of the game.
Miami had three chances to tie or win the game, but McClinton missed three shots down the stretch, two threes, and a wild layup attempt that hit off the back of the backboard and fell out of bounds with 4.1 seconds remaining.
Rice hit two free throws with 3.1 seconds on the clock, before Miami's desperate heave on the inbounds play was broken up by Dudley.
"I just believed that we were tough enough to win the basketball game. They came down and banged a three, we came down and banged a three. That's just the toughness that this team has. If we're in a close ball game, we're going to fight and make the plays that we have to make," said BC head coach Al Skinner.
The Hurricanes kept the Eagles at arm's length throughout the first half after taking a 7-5 lead on Brian Asbury's layup at 15:13.
Dudley was scoreless in the first half, as Miami prevented the ACC's second- leading scorer from getting involved in the game with an array of different defensive schemes aimed at shutting him down.
"We didn't want him to zone in and just go on us one-on-one. We wanted to throw a couple guys at him, and I thought we changed defenses that tried to keep him off balance … We wanted to make sure Dudley didn't beat us, and I think our guys did a good job at that," said Miami head coach Frank Haith.
Sean Marshall, also struggled to find his shot in the first half, scoring only two points on 1-5 shooting, finished with five points on 2-10 shooting.
The lone bright spot early on for BC was Rice, who scored 16 points to lead all scorers in the first half.
After Rice put in his own miss to cut Miami's lead to 22-20 at 5:37, the Eagles were outscored 16-8 the rest of the way, as Anthony Harris' 3-pointer at the first half buzzer gave Miami its largest lead of the half at 38-28.
The Eagles, however, pulled together late in the second half, and earned themselves a rematch with North Carolina in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament.
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