Men's Basketball Falls To No. 24 Boston College
Jan. 13, 2001
BOSTON (AP) – Troy Bell couldn’t have been better at the free-throw line. The Big East rookie of the year went 17-for-17 at the line, setting a schoolrecord, and Kenny Harley scored 17 of 19 points in the second half as Saturdayto lead No. 24 Boston College over Miami 82-73.
“We made Kenny Harley the primary ballhandler,” Boston College coach AlSkinner said of his second-half adjustment. “It really opened it up becausethey weren’t concerned about the return pass to him for the jumpshot, which hegot and made.”
Bell, who was just 4-for-12 from the field, finished with a game-high 27points and Xavier Singletary had 15 for the Eagles (12-1, 3-1 Big East).
“We’re young and we don’t recognize who’s hurting you on the floor,” Miamicoach Perry Clark said. “I thought Harley did a good job.”
Harley broke a 61-all tie with a 3-pointer from the right corner with 4:41left. He shot 7-for-8 from the field, including 6-for-7 in the second half.
After Rice scored off an offense rebound, Bell made a 3-pointer, Singletaryhad a layup and Uka Agbai added a dunk, making it 71-63 with 2:16 to go. Beforethen, Bell had shot just 2-for-10.
“Harley’s probably the best ballhandler and penetrator on the team,”Singletary said. “We just said do the things you do best, and he came out inthe second half and did that.”
Harley, arrested for his role in a barfight following a 85-68 upset ofthen-No. 10 Connecticut on Jan. 3, felt may have been the best half of hiscareer.
“Being a senior, I wanted to be more assertive,” he said.
The Eagles, who spent a week in the Top 25 for the first time since March1997, beat the Hurricanes for the second time this week. Last Sunday in Miami,they won 73-72 on Jonathan Beerbohm’s tip-in with 27 seconds left.
Bell’s became the first player in school history to go 17-for-17 at the lineand tied the team record for free throws. John Austin was 17-for-18 on Feb. 21,1964, against Georgetown and Danya Abrams was 17-for-20 in January 1997.
John Salmons led the Hurricanes (8-7, 0-4) with 19 points, and Darius Ricehad 17.
Miami, off to its worst conference start since going 0-18 in 1993-94, waswithout Leroy Hurd and Joe Gordon, its two best reserves.
The Eagles, who shot 50 percent in the first half, had a 12-3 run over thefinal 2:28 to take a 40-36 edge at the break. Bell had eight points in thespree, including a four-point play.
Boston College, which used a soft early-season schedule to gain confidencebefore beating Vanderbilt and upsetting Connecticut, was coming off a lossWednesday at St. John’s, which stopped the third-longest winning streak inschool history and the longest since 1968-69.
