Makai Ashton-Langford led four double-figure scorers with 16 points as 10th-seeded Boston College surged past 15th-seeded Louisville 80-62 in Tuesday’s Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament game in Greensboro, N.C.
The Eagles (16-16) shot 51.5 percent from the field in the second half, when Ashton-Langford scored 10 of his points after overcoming foul trouble.
Jaeden Zackery scored 15 points with eight assists, Prince Aligbe added 14 and Devin McGlockton had 11 as BC advanced to face No. 7 seed North Carolina in the second round.
BC’s leading scorer and rebounder Quinten Post did not play after suffering an ankle injury in the opening minutes of Saturday’s regular-season finale against Georgia Tech.
El Ellis had 16 points and five assists to lead Louisville (4-28), which finished with five consecutive losses.
In the second half, neither team led by more than four until the Eagles strung together an extended 12-3 run that started with T.J. Bickerstaff’s game-tying layup with 15:30 left. Louisville did not score for more than four minutes.
BC continued expanding its lead from there as Aligbe slammed in a dunk. The lead exceeded 10 after Mason Madsen scored five straight points, including a 3-pointer with 6:47 left.
After three Ellis free throws, Zackery scored back-to-back layups to give BC a 13-point lead with 4:29 left.
After back-to-back scoreless games, Brandon Huntley-Hatfield logged Louisville’s first six points while BC started 0-of-5 from the field in the first half. Ashton-Langford’s two triples within a responding 9-3 run lifted the Eagles by a bucket.
Ashton-Langford picked up his third foul before the 8:00 mark, but Aligbe’s jumper with exactly eight minutes left in the half fueled an 8-0 run for BC, which took a 10-point lead with 5:56 to go.
Louisville answered with a 10-0 run, tying the game at 25-25 with 3:24 left. JJ Traynor’s corner three was the only made field goal within the 10-0 stretch. It was part of a five-point possession that included two Withers free throws following a foul underneath.
The Cardinals finished the period with 19 points in the last 4:58, eight on foul shots, to take a 34-31 halftime lead.
–Field Level Media
