CHESTNUT HILL - Joe Trapani hasn't had the best of luck shooting this season, but you wouldn't have been able to tell on Wednesday night.
Trapani made 7-of-14 shots and 4-of-5 free throws on the way to a game-high 18 points as Boston College edged ACC foe Virginia, 70-67, in front of 4,628 fans at Conte Forum.
"I thought it was a hard-fought game," said Boston College head coach Steve Donahue. "It felt like a league game where each team knows each other very well, neither one gives an inch."
Trapani didn't have any success from distance, missing all three of his shots from distance, but was dominant in the paint were he scored 12 points (eight in the first half).
"Coach [Donahue] always says if your shot's not falling, obviously keep shooting, but I tried to find other ways to get into the mix on offense, so I was able to take it to the basket and finish," said Trapani.
Reggie Jackson scored 16 points in the contest, including his 1,000th career point on a three from the corner with 3:53 left in the game. Jackson became the 39th player in school history to reach the historic milestone, joining teammates Corey Raji and Trapani, who achieved the feat earlier this season.
"I didn't even know I was close until I came in during shoot-around and the fans were heckling me," Jackson said. "I'm happy it's done with, I don't have to worry about it."
Biko Paris chipped in with 12 points and one assist and Raji totaled 10 points and five rebounds for the Eagles.
Mustapha Farrakhan led the Cavaliers with 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting. Freshman KT Harrell scored 13 points and both Assane Sene and Joe Harris added 11 points a piece for Virginia.
Boston College shot an uncharacteristically low 40.7% from the field (22-of-54) and 28.6% from long distance (6-of-21). Virginia made 25-of-57 shots (43.9%) and 9-of-23 three pointers (39.1%) in the loss. The Eagles are now 5-2 when shooting the same or worse than their opponent.
"They made it very difficult for us to run our offense," Donahue said. "That's a credit to [Virginia head coach] Tony [Bennett] and his staff and his players."
Virginia (10-8, 1-3 ACC) jumped out to an 11-6 lead with 13:10 left in the first half and played stellar defense through the first ten minutes of the game. Boston College (14-5, 4-1 ACC) tied the game at 11 on a three-pointer from Dallas Elmore (five points) with 9:47 remaining in the opening half.
Elmore's three kicked off a 14-4 run for Boston College, giving the Eagles a 25-15 lead with 5:03 to go in the half. The Eagles built their lead to 33-23 with 1:14 left in the opening half, but the Cavaliers chipped away in the final minute, closing out the half on a 5-1 run to cut the BC lead to five, 34-28, entering halftime.
The Eagles made 11-of-28 shots (39.3%) and 3-of-12 three pointers (25%) while the Cavaliers drained 12-of-28 field goals and 3-of-12 threes in the first half.
Virginia opened the second half with a 13-6 run to tie the game at 41 with 16:20 left. BC quelled the Cavaliers' run momentarily, but Virginia kept the pressure on, ultimately taking a 57-56 lead with 6:44 remaining.
Raji's jumper with 4:28 left put BC up by one, 58-57. Sene tied the game at 58 after making one-of-two free throws with 3:53 to go. The Eagles pulled ahead for good on Jackson's three with 3:36 left, marking his 1,001st career point.
Raji made one-of-two free throws to build the lead to 62-58 at 2:51. Farrakhan added a point from the free throw line with 2:45 left and Harris' three with 1:41 left tied the game at 62.
The Eagles took the lead for good when Paris hit a pair of free throws with 1:29 to play. Raji hit two more free throws to give BC a 66-62 advantage, but Sene trimmed the lead to two with his second-chance put-back with 42 ticks remaining.
After a pair of Jackson free throws, Sammy Zeglinski (six points) drained a straightaway three with seven seconds left, once again bringing Virginia within one, 68-67.
Jackson buried two more free throws, his fifth and sixth of the night, to ice the game. Billy Baron threw up a prayer from the Eagles' three-point line, but it came up well short.
"Free throws are big," Jackson said. "It puts pressure on the other team. If I don't hit the last two, maybe that miracle [shot] goes down and hurts us. We very much pay respect to our practice and what coach does for us."
The Eagles tallied 34 rebounds (11 offensive), 12 assists, three blocks and had five turnovers. The Cavaliers had 34 rebounds (12 offensive), 12 assists, five blocks, two steals and turned the ball over seven times.
WHAT'S NEXT: Boston College returns to Florida for the third time this season to face ACC opponent Florida State on Saturday at 7 p.m. EST (ESPNU). Virginia will face conference rival Georgia Tech at home on Saturday at noon.
NOTES
Boston College moves to 5-7 in the all-time series and 5-4 in conference play against Virginia. The Eagles sank 8-of-8 free throws in the final 1:30 of the game...Eagles head coach Steve Donahue earned his 160th career win...Junior guard Reggie Jackson posted 16 points to record the 52nd double-digit scoring game of his career and registered his ACC-best 16th consecutive game with 10 or more points.