Boston Herald
NCAA TOURNAMENT RESULTS FOR ACC TEAMS
Play-in Game
North Carolina—73, Loyola (Illinois)—67 (Close game all the way; 4 NC starters scored in double figures)
Round 1
Pittsburgh—78, Dayton—65 (Pittsburgh led by as much as 22 points and their C Matt Swanson scored 28 points)
North Carolina—69, Duke—63 (Duke’s late season collapse continued; NC hit 10 of 23 from 3 pt distance)
Clemson—79, Bellarmine—67 (The Tigers took over late in the 1st half; Clemson’s PG Eric Hunter scored 17 but Bellarmine’s PG Jeff Henson dropped in 27 points)
Coppin State—82, North Carolina State—65 (NC State fell apart in the 2nd half and the Wolfpack game up 30 points to Coppin State’s SG Troy White)
UCONN—94, Virginia—89 (18 lead changes and 5 ties; UCONN pulled ahead in the final 2 minutes; Virginia’s SF Rod Marvray scored 23 and he grabbed 8 rebounds)
Notre Dame—79, Southern—72 (The Fighting Irish held a small lead most of the game; SF John Grace had 20 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 5 steals and a block)
#1 seed, #8 ranked Boston College Eagles (24-8) vs #16 seed West Virginia Mountaineers (19-14)
The Mountaineers had a tough time in the Big 12 regular season, finishing with just an 8-10 record but during the season they played ranked teams 8 times and won 3 of those games, so they’re no pushover. What’s more, they won the Big 12 Tournament, winning 4 straight close games! West Virginia’s offense and defense are both basically average but they’ve not been a strong rebounding team, so BC needs to dominate the boards.
BC scored the first 9 points by holding the Mountaineers scoreless for 4 minutes. West Virginia fought back to take a 20-18 lead with 7-1/2 minutes to go in the half. The Eagles then went on a 17-4 run and finished the half ahead 39-27. BC limited West Virginia’s shooting to 35% and forced 10 turnovers. The Eagles onslaught continued in the 2nd half and after just 5-1/2 minutes their lead had ballooned to 21 points. They then eased back and finished with a 76-65 victory. The biggest difference in the game was a 19-6 turnover advantage held by Boston College.
C Tim Cotton scored 14 points, SG Corey Graham had 13 points, and C Ben Schau added 10 points. PG Bobby Grannum had 8 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals and a block.