CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) - Miami spoiled Boston College’s post-Syracuse euphoria.
Rion Brown scored 22 points to lead the Hurricanes to a 69-42 win over Boston College on Saturday, three days after the Eagles’ upset victory against No. 1 Syracuse.
“We felt they were probably thinking, ’hey we just beat Syracuse and we can definitely beat Miami,’” Brown said. “We just wanted to come out and play our game and execute our game plan. We respect Boston College as a team and we knew we had to play our best.”
Brown shot 8 of 14 from the field and made four 3-pointers for Miami (14-13, 5-9 Atlantic Coast Conference). He also surpassed 1,000 career points and is now at 1,015.
Erik Swoope tied a career-high with 14 points, while Manu Lecomte and Garrius Adams and 11 and 10 points, respectively, for Miami.
The Hurricanes never trailed and won their second consecutive home conference game after six earlier losses.
Miami opened the second half with a 14-6 spurt and increased a five-point halftime advantage to 13 for their first double-digit lead. Brown’s jumper with 14:08 remaining capped the early second half surge and gave the Hurricanes a 41-28 lead.
Miami later scored eight unanswered points behind Lecomte’s consecutive layups and Brown’s 3-pointer. Swoope’s dunk with 8:44 remaining ended the run and increased the Hurricanes’ lead to 53-36.
“I like that our defensive game plan has been well executed,” Miami coach Jim Larranaga said. “We’ve been really contesting things much better than any other time this season.”
Brown’s fast-break layup off a steal with 4:50 remaining gave the Hurricanes their first 20-point lead at 60-40.
The Hurricanes shot 62 percent from the field in the second half and limited Boston College to 29 percent. The Eagles (7-20, 3-11) missed all eight of their 3-point attempts in the second half.
“That’s a team - if they make 10 3s they win,” Larranaga said. “Our players knew that. We played some of our best man-to-man defense of the season. We played some good zone defense.”
Patrick Heckmann scored 15 points but was held to two points in the second half for Boston College. The Eagles have lost six of their last seven.
“It’s obviously been a crazy frustrating year in a lot of ways,” Boston College coach Steve Donahue said. “The guys have done everything they can. We’ve been in a ton of games. We’ve played good basketball for the most part. Our record doesn’t indicate it.”
Brown scored eight points, including two 3-pointers, in the first 6:15 to help Miami open the game to a 14-6 lead.
The Eagles responded and outscored the Hurricanes, 11-4, in the next 5:19. Joe Rahon’s two free throws with 8:26 remaining got Boston College to within 18-17.
Miami regained its eight-point advantage behind Donnavan Kirk’s consecutive field goals late in the first half. Kirk’s jumper with 3:04 left gave the Hurricanes a 27-19 lead.
Heckmann hit his third 3-pointer of the first half with 1:48 remaining and cut Miami’s lead to 27-22 at halftime.
“When we had open looks, we didn’t make them,” Donahue said. “There were possessions where we didn’t move the ball. We were stagnant and took hard shots. They were a step ahead of us most of the game on both sides of the ball.”
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