Eagles Fly High
January 16, 2005 02:36 PM | General
January 16, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – No. 13 Boston College used a 18-2 run at the start of the second half to turn a 29-all halftime tie into a runaway 73-53 victory over West Virginia Sunday afternoon in Morgantown.
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| West Virginia's Kevin Pittsnogle grabs a rebound during the first half of Sunday's game against Boston College.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
The Mountaineers had no answer for Boston College’s athletic ability and size. BC got several easy baskets from close range in the second half and bothered West Virginia shooters all afternoon, forcing WVU to take several difficult three-point tries.
West Virginia finished three of 23 from three-point range. Overall, the Mountaineers were 18 of 55 from the floor for 32.7 percent and were 0 for 13 from three-point range in the second half. WVU’s top three-point shooter Patrick Beilein missed all seven tries from behind the arc. West Virginia also committed 18 turnovers.
“If we go three for 23 we’re probably going to lose every game we play,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein. “Now the 18 turnovers I can’t figure out. They switched off on a lot of screens and do a lot of things that we have to make reads on but we had a lot of just dropped balls.”
Six-foot-seven forward Jared Dudley scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and Craig Smith added 20 points and nine rebounds for the Eagles, now 14-0, 3-0.
“If I had know that we were going to turn it over like three of the first five times we had the ball down the floor (to start the second half) it might have been a little bit different,” Beilein said. “I’ve got a lot of faith in our guys that we don’t have to call a timeout early or do things like that to keep us in the game.
“Then all of the sudden it was nine and now we can’t make a shot,” Beilein noted.
Boston College played the majority of the game without its top two point guards Louis Hinnant and Steve Hailey.
Hailey went down hard on his ankle driving to the basket with 10:45 remaining in the first half and was carried off the court by his teammates. Two minutes later, Hinnant was forced to the bench after picking up his third foul.
That left the BC offense in the hands of Jermaine Watson, who finished with 13 points.
With the Eagles leading by one, 17-16, J.D. Collins started a 9-0 West Virginia run to put the Mountaineers up by eight. After the Collins basket, Tyrone Sally hit a pair of free throws and a lay up and Mike Gansey added three free throws to give WVU its biggest lead of the half, 25-17.
Boston College answered with a 12-4 run to tie the game at halftime. A key exchange came with 3:05 left when Craig Smith hit a three-point basket from the corner and Collins was whistled for fouling Watson during the shot. Watson was able to hit one of two for a four-point play to bring the Eagles to within two.
West Virginia (11-3, 1-2) responded with a jumper by Kevin Pittsnogle and a pair of free throws by Sally to push its lead back to six, 29-23, but the Eagles closed strong with a jumper by Watson and a pair of baskets by Dudley.
“I thought in the first half we didn’t play well,” said Beilein. “We still had eight or nine turnovers at the half and there was just something missed. But I felt we were in great shape at 29. Last year we were down two at the half.”
Boston College shot an efficient 24 of 45 from the floor for 53.3 percent and held a 38-28 rebounding advantage. The Eagles scored 38 of their 73 points in the paint and were able to convert 18 West Virginia turnovers into 21 points.
Gansey was West Virginia’s top point producer with 14, while Sally added 13 and Pittsnogle contributed 11.
“We just have to stay with it,” said Beilein of his team’s recent shooting difficulties. “What are you going to do? Say we’re not going to take that shot anymore? I thought we took a couple of forced ones today but that was about it. We didn’t make shots and they did a great job of shutting down and not letting us get the ball inside to D’or and Kevin and they dared us to shoot it from outside.”
D’or Fischer, coming off a 20-point night against Marshall last Tuesday, managed just five points and took just three shots. West Virginia is just six of 42 from three-point range in its last two losses against Marshall and Boston College and the Mountaineers have now failed to score 70 points in a game in each of their last four outings after an 82-69 win at N.C. State on Jan. 2.
“The turnovers bother me more than the shooting because I know the shooting is almost like a bad foul shooting night: you can’t do much about it,” Beilein said.
West Virginia doesn’t have long to think about this one, playing host to Notre Dame Wednesday night at 7 pm.
“We’ve got to fight through it and it is my job to get the team ready to play again against Notre Dame on Wednesday night,” Beilein said.
