Boston College drops a 63-62 heartbreaker to Florida State

Resilience wasn’t enough to put Boston College over the top.

Boston College chased the game from the opening tipoff, failed get off a game-winning final shot, and succumbed to Florida State, 63-62, in a heartbreaker on Tuesday night at Conte Forum.

BC inbounded the ball from half court with 8.5 seconds remaining. BC worked the ball to Jaeden Zackery, who had trouble handling it in the corner. Zackery was immediately double teamed and never got a shot off. BC dropped to 13-9, 4-7 in the ACC and plays at Duke on Saturday.

“We just wanted to get a shot with five seconds, get a shot at the rim and we would have had bonus” said BC coach Earl Grant. “You are down one so you just want to go score and we had multiple options with JZ cutting to the corner. We were hoping to get a foul or a shot at the basket.”

BC shot 40.7% from the floor with eight treys and outrebounded the taller Seminoles, 40-32. The Eagles hurt themselves with 13 turnovers that FSU converted into 19 points. BC was led by graduate power forward Quinten Post, who grabbed 12 rebounds with 21 points, including the 1,000th of his career.

“He’s come a long way,” said Grant. “I am proud of Quinten, he has come a really long way and he was a back up player his first year. He is really coachable and a joy to be around and he’s gotten better every year.”

BC fell behind 42-31 at the start of the second half, but the Eagles regrouped with an 8-0 run to cut the Seminoles lead to 42-39 into the first media timeout. FSU junior guard Jalen Warley busted the surge with a pair of transition baskets. BC countered with successive stops and cut the lead to 48-46 on a drive and a trey by Mason Madsen into the second media timeout.

BC tied game 52-52 on a 3-ball by Post from the top of the key with 8:08 to play but trailed by two into the third media timeout. BC guard Jaeden Zackery tied the game 54-54 with two from the line, but FSU retaliated with a 7-2 spurt to go up 61-56 into the final media timeout.

Warley put FSU up 63-60 with a drive, but BC forward Devin McGlockton responded with a layup to cut the lead to one with 16.7 seconds to play. BC got the ball when FSU guard Darin Green missed the front end of a one-and-one.

“They play a unique style of basketball with heavy switching and very aggressive,” said Post. “It is so hard to always be trailing and I feel like we are capable of not being in that situation.”

Boston College entered the game with consecutive ACC wins against Notre Dame and Syracuse while the Seminoles dropped back-to-back conference matches against No. 3 North Carolina and last place Louisville. The Cardinals put up 101 points on the Seminoles.

FSU put the travails of Louisville behind them and jumped out to a 9-2 lead into the first media timeout. Eagles aided the FSU surge with poor shot selection and turnovers.

FSU quickly upped the lead to 16-2 when senior guard Josh Nickelberry drained a 3-ball from the top of the key with 14:25, prompting Grant to call timeout and assess the situation.  BC was trailing 16-7 when Post buried a trifecta from the top of the key at 13:24, eclipsing the 1,000-point milestone on his career.

“It was a buzzsaw, 16-2 and it is like spotting somebody 14 points and in this league that is really hard to do,” said Grant. “I thought we won the game except for the first four minutes.”

FSU went up 21-7 on a dunk by Taylor Bol Bowen, but BC guard Claudell Harris buried a three to start a 7-0 run that made 21-14 into the second media timeout. FSU regained control of the key on both ends to go up 29-18 on a put back dunk by Jaylan Gainey. BC rallied to cut the lead to 35-31 into the final media timeout. FSU led 37-31 at the half.

 

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