Boston College put Wake Forest and all its fans out of their prolonged misery Thursday with an 81-67 victory in the first round of the ACC tournament.
"Obviously," coach Jeff Bzdelik said, "it has been a challenging year for Wake Forest."
Four days after shooting 58 percent against the Deacons in Chestnut Hill, the Eagles shot 58 percent in the first half on the way to a commanding 47-31 halftime lead. Freshman Travis McKie recognized the performance as a sequel.
"It was the exact same thing, actually," McKie said. "In the first half they got a couple of easy points and also made a couple of hard shots. And when the hard shots started going in, that's when the defensive morale started to go down.
"It was very reminiscent of the (at) Boston College game. We've just got to do a better job defensively throughout 40 minutes."
The Deacons made a better showing in the final 20 minutes, outscoring the Eagles 36-34, but were never able to pare the gap closer than 11 points — at 78-67 with a minute and a half remaining.
Wake Forest, the only ACC team to lose 15 conference games in a regular season, fell to 8-24 with its 11th straight loss and 20th setback in the past 22 games.
Reggie Jackson made 10 of 13 shots from the floor for 27 points to go with six assists and five rebounds. Joe Trapani contributed 22 points, six rebounds and three assists, and Biko Paris chipped in 21 points and five assists as the Eagles improved to 20-11 going into today's quarterfinal game against Clemson at 2:30.
Wake Forest trailed only 15-14 with 11 minutes left in the first half before the Eagles hit six straight shots — five from 3-point range. Scoring on 16 of 20 possessions, Boston College extended the lead to 54-33 with 18½ minutes left in the game.
Coach Steve Donahue said the Eagles knew a strong start would be essential in a second-straight game against the same opponent.
"You play a team four days ago, you've got to make sure they know it's not going to be the same and you're ready to go," Donahue said.
The older and stronger Eagles pounded Wake Forest 23-11 on the boards in the first half, but didn't really impose their will until Trapani, Paris and Jackson heated up offensively. Paris, a 6-foot-1 senior shooting 40 percent from 3-point range for the season, made five of seven from beyond the arc in the first half, including three in a row during the surge that broke the game open.
"We've just got to do a better job of closing out and contesting shots — making them miss instead of hoping they miss," said sophomore C.J. Harris of Wake Forest.
The Deacons did a better job of closing out on the jump shooters in the second half, but their aggressiveness led to more fouls.
Boston College shot just 48 percent in the second half, but made 11 of 17 free throws to remain comfortably ahead.
McKie concluded an impressive freshman season with 16 points and 12 rebounds in 36 minutes, J.T. Terrell and Gary Clark scored 15 each and Nikita Mescheriakov, a 6-foot-8 junior playing center most of the second half, scored a career-high 13.
But Harris, whose late-season slump continued when he made only one of seven shots from the floor, said there was no relief in the season finally being over.
"We're not happy at all that we're not playing anymore," Harris said. "We really wanted to get in here and get a win and advance and play the next round.
"But it's tough going out the way we did. Guys are excited to get better, really. I think we've got a lot of work to do, but people are ready to get in the gym and work."
dcollins@wsjournal.com
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