Georgia Tech 74, Boston College 71: Eagles Flounder In Closing Moments Again
By Joe Micik
Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports
Boston College basketball once again snatched defeat from the jaws of victory during their hellish 2013-14 season.
On Thursday evening in Atlanta, the Eagles fell to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, 74-71. With the loss, Boston College drops to 6-18 (2-9) on the season.
The sad news for the Eagles is that on the offensive end, they did not have a terrible game. Three-pointers were going in the net and Olivier Hanlan produced some scoring, but the defense was again troublesome. Boston College gave up offensive boards at about a two-to-one clip during the game, and that is how Georgia Tech mounted its comeback.
The Eagles led for most of the game, and even had a five-point lead with just two and a half minutes to go. Georgia Tech was able to prevent the Eagles from taking a three-possession lead, cutting Boston College’s advantage to three, then one, and finally taking a one-point lead with under thirty seconds to play.
Steve Donahue got the ball into Olivier Hanlan’s hands, and the Quebecois sophomore put Boston College back on top, 71-70, with 3.4 seconds to go in regulation. Then, in one of the dumbest Eagles moves in a season of dumb moves, Donahue called a timeout on defense while Georgia Tech’s Brian Gregory had none. Gregory was able to draw up the inbounds play as the Yellow Jackets made the game-winning three-pointer with 0.1 seconds to go; Lonnie Jackson also drew a foul which gave Georgia Tech a four-point play.
Donahue’s over-coaching reached truly epic proportions on Thursday afternoon, and not just because of his incessant whistling. The timeout was not only unnecessary, it was the wrong thing to do, and it directly contributed to another loss. Granted, wins and losses no longer matter when your basketball team is bikini-line deep in shinola, but it was yet another example of a team finding a way to lose a game they almost certainly should have won.
The Eagles return to action Sunday evening at home against Notre Dame.