After this game was postponed from yesterday due to a blizzard ripping through Chestnut Hill and the surrounding area, the hype for this matchup has only risen. Miami is squarely on the bubble with virtually 1 quality ACC win under their belt (over Duke earlier this season), and was in the middle of a 1-4 stretch. They were looking to get back on track against conference bottom-dweller Boston College, but the Eagles were not going to go away into the night.
After staving off everything that BC had, Miami was able to somehow prevail in 2 overtimes to jump to 16-9 overall. It was quite the topsy-turvy affair, with both teams trading buckets every possession. Sheldon McClellan was hot early in this game, scoring the first 7 Canes' points. However, BC's Will Magarity equaled his effort just a minute to lead a rally that had the crowd excited (the Silvio Conte Forum was less than halfway full, understandably so due to the horrible weather conditions surrounding the area). Olivier Hanlan, who is known to score points in bunches for his Eagles, hit the occasional outside shot to keep BC right with Miami, leading the Hurricanes 30-28 at the half.
Miami utilized a balanced scoring attack in the 2nd half, as Davon Reed and Deandre Burnett were nailing multiple three pointers. However, it was the Olivier Hanlan show for BeanTown, as his 13 points in the 2nd half kept Boston College right there. Angel Rodriguez, who has been the Canes' catalyst all year long, was in foul trouble for most of the game, and fouled out of the game about a minute before the end of regulation. Sheldon McClellan fouled Aaron Brown with 40 ticks left, and he tied the game at the charity stripe, as the game would go to bonus time.
It looked like Boston College would be able to pull this one out in this session, as Hanlan kept pouring it on with 7 more points. After a Dennis Clifford dunk, it was 75-71 BC with 24 seconds left. However, the Canes were not done, as Deandre Burnett drove down the court to score a layup and the foul to tighten things up. With 11 ticks left, Aaron Brown committed a silly foul that brought burnett to the line, where he subsequently tied it, to the chagrin of BC's coach Steve Donahue, who is on the hot seat this season. The game would move on to more bonus basketball.
In these 5 minutes, Hanlan was not enough for Boston College to overcome Manu Leconte, who came off the bench for Miami to help out, and big man Tonye Jekiri, who converted at the foul line. The one man show for BC would not survive the bubblicious Hurricanes, as Miami won 89-86.
With this win, Jim Larranega's squad can prepare for Virginia Tech on Wednesday thinking they can start a win streak. If they can take care of business against less-superior teams, and maybe get one to two more quality wins (big matchup against Louisville on Saturday), they should be fine come Selection Sunday. But, there is a lot of basketball to be played, and we will see if they can respond.