ACC Roundup - Irish, Pack Win, BC Blows One
In Wednesday’s ACC Action, Notre Dame beat Iowa 80-65, NC State throttled Liberty 85-45 and Boston College fell to UMass, 76-74.This was the first game Notre Dame played without star guard Markus Burton, who was injured against TCU last time out, and who now faces ankle surgery and, possibly, a redshirt season.The Irish did okay without him, although the Vandals tied Notre Dame at halftime, 33-33.Cole Certa got the start for Burton and he did well, with 15 points on 5-7/3-4 from the floor. Three other starters finished in double figures - Braeden Shrewsberry finished with 14, Carson Towt had 19 points and 15 rebounds and Jalen Haralson got 20. Notre Dame shot 64% from behind the line and 52% overall.Some people thought that Liberty was dangerous and could be a sneaky tough out for the Wolfpack.Liberty tied the game at 6-6 but the blowout started shortly thereafter as State ripped out to a 45-19 halftime lead.State is now 7-3 and the losses were to Seton Hall, Texas and Auburn, and the Pack was competitive in all three. The rumors of their demise were perhaps a bit premature.State ripped off a 15-1 run to start the second half and scored 21 points from Liberty’s 17 turnovers.Ven-Allen Lubin and Matt Able both scored 13. Darrion Williams, who has played well for State so far, had just 9 points on 3-9/1-3 shooting. The Pack shot 42% from behind the line and 52% overall.All eyes now turn to Saturday as Kansas visits Raleigh for what should be an interesting game. The Jayhawks will have then played UNC, Duke and State, all three of the Triangle teams. So far, only Duke has won.Finally, BC lost another close game, this time to UMass, 76-74. The Eagles have now lost to FAU in overtime by 5, Central Connecticut by 1, Tulane in overtime by 3 and LSU in overtime by 9.That’s a lot of heartbreak.UMass had a 14 point second half lead before BC roared back with a 23-2 run. After a bit of back-and-forth, Donald Hand tied the game at 74-74 with :57 left. Sadly, Chase Forte got to the line with :21 left and missed both and then he fouled Marcus Banks with :05 left and unlike Forte, he made both.Then to compound his agonizing night, Forte missed a last-gasp three. That’s a devastating last :21 seconds in any game for any player. This game will be on his mind for a while.Boston College might also have done better if it had shot better from three point range, hitting just 3-23. Or it could have made up some ground on the line: the Eagles got 35 attempts but missed 8 (77%).Two games on Thursday as Western Carolina visits Virginia Tech and Saint Joseph’s is at Syracuse.
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