Mar 15, 2007, 19:30 GMT
Winston-Salem, NC - Sean Marshall scored 15 of his 21 points in the second half and Tyrese Rice drained six free throws in the final minute, as Boston College held on for an 84-75 victory over Texas Tech in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Rice finished with a game-high 26 points and Jared Dudley chipped in 19 for the Eagles (21-11), who are seeded seventh in the East Region and will take on Georgetown in Saturday's second round. The Hoyas advanced with an 80-55 rout of Belmont on Thursday.
Martin Zeno kept Texas Tech in the game with 21 points. Charlie Burgess and Alan Voskuil scored 12 apiece for the Red Raiders (21-13), while leading scorer Jarrius Jackson made only 4-of-14 shots and finished with 10 points -- 10 below his season average.
'We scored enough points. We didn't need to score any more points,' said Texas Tech head coach Bob Knight. 'We just didn't get it done defensively like we needed to do.'
Boston College held a 41-39 lead at the intermission and it remained tight in the early stages of the second half. Tech took its largest lead at 58-54 on a three-pointer by Jackson, but BC answered with seven straight points and opened a 61-58 edge on a bucket by Marshall with 11 minutes remaining.
'The biggest thing was getting stops on the defensive end, which we started to do down the stretch, and then execute on the offensive end,' said Marshall.
A three-pointer by Marshall extended the lead to 68-62, but the Red Raiders kept it close and trailed just 72-70 after a short jumper by Zeno with just over six minutes to play.
The Eagles scored six of the next seven points to open a 78-71 advantage before a layup by Burgess made it a five-point game with 1:40 left. Rice then drained each of his free-throw attempts down the stretch to seal it.
'I thought we showed a lot more patience on the offensive end,' said Boston College head coach Al Skinner. 'We didn't play hurried. Our guys were patient. You made some statements about us being four down, but that really wasn't a concern for us. I didn't think that we felt the game was getting away from us.'
Rice finished 8-of-8 from the line and BC hit 16-of-20 from the stripe overall. Tech got to the line just nine times and made eight.
Both teams struggled from the field early, combining to make just two of their first 15 shots. BC led 7-2 just over five minutes into the contest before Texas Tech took its first lead at 12-11 on a three-pointer by Jon Plefka.
Back-to-back threes by John Oates gave the Eagles a 22-16 advantage midway through the opening half and the lead was up to seven a few minutes later before the Red Raiders rallied.
Burgess' layup with just over 90 seconds to play in the half gave Tech a 37-36 edge, but Oates responded with a three-pointer to put BC back on top. After a tying layup by Burgess, Oates scored inside just before the buzzer to give the Eagles a 41-39 lead at the break.
Oates scored all 11 of his points in the opening 20 minutes.
Game Notes
BC, which has won four straight NCAA Tournament openers, reached the Sweet 16 of last year's tourney before losing in overtime to Villanova...Texas Tech last played in the NCAA Tournament two years ago and advanced to the Sweet 16 before losing to West Virginia...The Eagles lead the all-time series 2-1. The teams last played in the first round of the 1985 NCAA Tournament with Boston College earning a 55-53 victory.
© 2007 The Sports Network
Game Notes.
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