Eagles Perched atop ACC

Jared Dudley has something to prove, and the ACC has become his stage. His Boston College Eagles, glimmering in their all-new gold uniforms at Conte Forum Saturday afternoon, stomped Virginia Tech, who entered the game ranked 16th nationally and were tied with BC for second place in the ACC.

Dudley had his finest performance of his senior year: 30 points (tied a season high) on 11-15 shooting, 13 rebounds, and four assists in front of raging, capacity home crowd.

“This is just my last year here,” Dudley said afterwards. “I only got, what, three more home games here? I’m trying to do something I can show my grandkids, show my family, have my mom be proud of me and everything. I’m trying to go out as one of the best players ever to play at BC. And for me that entails a lot of winning.”

Many thought winning is not something the Eagles could do in this conference; not after losing Sean Williams and Akida McLain to permanent suspension. But Dudley might have them rolling at just the right time. BC dominated America East opponent Hartford on Wednesday by setting a school-record with 14 three-pointers, then proved it could do the same against the best of the ACC by drilling 12 against the Hokies en-route to an 80-59 bashing.

Dudley followed a perfect night (8-8) against the Hawks with a near-perfect day from the land of the threes. He hit four of his five attempts and only one – his last, which gave him 30 points – was without a defender in front of him. Sophomore guard Tyrese Rice, who has established himself in the second half of the season as the team’s best second-option, chipped in with four threes of his own while scoring 20 points and dishing out eight assists.

Rice found himself in a peculiar situation in the first half, though not one he hadn’t seen before. Dudley got into some rare foul trouble – three personals with seven minutes left in the first – and the ACC’s biggest minute-hog was forced to the bench. Rice, who thrived in the three games Dudley missed to injury this year, gladly took the reins.

“When Dudley goes out, somebody has to step up, so I had to step up a little bit more,” Rice said after the game. “Like Dudley says, Dudley trusts us out there and we trust him, so when he goes out, it’s not like the whole team is leaving, so we still got to play ball.”

Dudley had just scored 12 points in six minutes to help inflate a seven-point lead into a 19-point thrashing. The streak started with a Rice steal and a Dudley two-handed dunk in transition. It culminated when Dudley duped Deron Washington into the air to draw a foul as the student section chanted down the waning seconds of the shot clock. Dudley sank both for his 16th point of the game and BC had run off 14-straight points.

But right in front of his bench on the other end, Dudley was called for a questionable pushing foul going for a loose ball.

“He said he got it wrong,” said Dudley, who apparently spoke to the official after the call. “But everyone makes mistakes; I’ve gotten away with a lot of fouls.”

Regardless, Dudley picked up his third and exited the game. But instead of faltering sans captain, those left on the floor only improved their situation with four three-pointers by four different players.

Rice made a three-pointer - a wild inbounds play in which Rice nearly threw the pass away before getting it back wide open in the corner - and assisted two more. Freshman Tyler Roche, who hit four against Hartford, drilled one and scrapped for an offensive rebound to set up another by Marquez Haynes. Senior co-captain Sean Marshall, who had 10 points on a tough shooting day (3-13), reenacted his game-winner against Florida State on January 23rd when he nailed another buzzer-beater from the same spot to end the half. He immediately ran toward the locker room and his teammates followed with a skip in their step: They held a 47-26 advantage and their leader was set to return when they got back.

“I think it was just confidence,” Rice said. “People have to come out and play every day. Like Tyrelle [Blair] knows he has to come out and perform. Tyler Roche knows he has to come out and perform when he steps on the court. So when Dudley goes down, we can’t look at it like a loss. We got to pick it up and go even harder.”

The Hokies inched their way back after the break. Washington (team-high 18 points) was explosive on the inside and seemed to be taking out his frustration of having to guard Dudley on the other end. Washington, a 6’7” junior forward, often spun through traffic and overpowered BC’s small lineup. If he wasn’t getting fouled, he was trying to rip the rim down with monstrous dunks that rippled looks of horror through the student section behind the basket.

Washington’s nine points in the first 5:23 of the half cut the lead from 21 to 14. That pace would be too quick for BC to survive and the Eagles recognized it. Dudley drew a double team and dropped off a pass to Blair, open for a dunk on the baseline. Rice hit a bomb – well beyond the defense, about 25 feet from the basket – three minutes later and the lead was back to 19.

The Hokies countered though, this time with a combination of Washington and their leading scorer, Zabian Dowdell (17 points). The two scored eight of the team’s next 11 points. Washington shook the lead down to 15 with another highlight, his scariest yet. Blair (6’11”) leapt with his arm extended straight to the rafters to cover another five or so feet, but Washington got higher and tomahawked a dunk over Blair’s head.

But only 4:27 was left on the clock and BC hadn’t allowed Tech into proper striking distance. The Hokies still had a long way to go. Plus, Dudley wasn’t done.

On the next possession, Dudley took the momentum back with a three from the right wing. After Washington hit a free throw on the other end, Dudley provided the nail in the coffin. Up 15 with less than three minutes left, Dudley stood in the corner with the ball opposite a defender while the crowd once again called out the digits on the shot clock. Dudley weighed his options, checked the clock, then decided to fire as the students got down to “two.” When the net splashed, the crowd released an awesome uproar and the Hokies cooked.

All that was left was the 30-point mark. And with 1:08 to go, Dudley got it with a wide-open jumper off an inbounds pass. With the shot, he matched his season high (that he first achieved against Michigan State in November) and ended all scoring for the afternoon.

Dudley will have seven more (regular season) chances to prove himself as one of the ACC’s best and as one of BC’s all-time greats. His next showcase: Wednesday night in Miami. The Eagles won both meetings last season.