Wake Forest guard C.J. Harris scored 29 points on 10-of-13 shooting, and the Demon Deacons held off a late Boston College rally for a 75-72 victory Saturday afternoon in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Olivier Hanlan is fouled driving to the basket during BC's loss to Wake Forest. (AP)

Lonnie Jackson scored 23 points to lead the way for BC (9-7, 1-2 ACC). Olivier Hanlan scored 18, and Ryan Anderson record his fifth double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

BC trailed by 10 points with 5:47 remaining before embarking on a 13-4 run, capped by a three-point play from Hanlan with just under two minutes remaining. That got the Eagles within one at 71-70. After a BC defensive breakdown led to a layup for Wake point guard Madison Jones, Joe Rahon hit two free throws to get BC back within a point, 73-72.

Following a Wake miss, BC turned over the ball, but the Demon Deacons (9-6, 2-1) returned the favor with an offensive foul on a moving pick. BC regained possession with 19.5 seconds left. BC got the ball to Rahon, but the guard could not finish his strong drive to the basket, making him 0-for-7.

Harris hit two free throws with 4.1 seconds left to make it 75-72. On BC’s ensuing inbounds pass, Wake’s Travis McKie (18 points) stole it just over midcourt, but apparently thinking the game was over, he started walking with the basketball toward the sideline. That gave BC another chance with 1.5 seconds left. The inbounds pass went to Hanlan, and his contested 3-pointer at the buzzer fell short.

BC next hosts Miami on Wednesday.

In other college basketball action involving local teams Saturday, Northeastern continued its hot start in conference play with a 70-59 victory at Towson as Joel Smith scored 21 points. The Huskies (9-7, 4-0 Colonial Athletic Association) trailed 25-13 with 8:16 left in the first half but closed the period on a 26-8 run to take control. NU is off to its best conference start since beginning 6-0 in 2008-09.

In Hanover, N.H., Harvard closed the game on a 17-2 run for a 75-65 victory over pesky Dartmouth as the Crimson began defense of their Ivy League championship. Siyani Chambers scored 22 points, Wesley Saunders netted 19, and both players had six assists. Harvard (9-2, 1-0 Ivy) shot a blistering 62.8 percent from the field and held the hosts to two points over the game’s final 9:25.

At Boston University, the Terriers got 16 points and seven assists from D.J. Irving in an 85-59 victory over Binghamton. John Papale added 14 points and nine rebounds for BU (8-9, 2-2 America East).

In Bethlehem, Pa., Holy Cross’ Justin Burrell scored 16 points, but the Crusaders could not keep up with Lehigh, falling 79-47 in their Patriot League opener. Lehigh, despite missing standout guard C.J. McCollum (broken foot), went on a 14-0 run late in the first half to take command, then shot 66.7 percent in the second half to pull away from HC (8-8).

Boston College erased a 1-0 deficit with a flurry of three second-period goals on its way to a 4-3 win over the Boston University Terriers in 58th Beanpot championship game Monday night at TD Garden.

Kevin Shattenkirk gave BU a 1-0 lead with his even strength goal at 13:36 of the first. But BC responded with three in the second, sparked by Steven Whitney’s power play goal 61 seconds in. Carl Sneep and Chris Kreider added goals to put BC in command.

BC claimed its 15th Beanpot title in school history and its second in three years when it withstood a late, furious rally by the Terriers, including a wraparound on the doorstep with 19.8 seconds remaining that was turned away by tournament MVP John Muse.

“If there was a classic Beanpot, that would be one of them,” BC coach Jerry York said. “I’ve been involved in a lot of really good matchups here. This particular one was quick, it was fast. Even at 4-1, none of us thought it was finished yet.”

BU lost in the title game for the first time since losing to BC 2-1 in overtime in 2004. The game also marked the 250th meeting between the archrivals, with BU still leading the series, 125-108 and 17 ties.

“I thought it was a fabulous game to watch as a college hockey game,” BU coach Jack Parker said. “It’s the 250th time we’ve played each other and where better to play each other than the Beanpot final. And other than the outcome, I thought it was a fabulous game. We won seven Beanpots in the decade of the 2000s and eight Beanpot in the decade of the 90s and now they won the first one of this decade so they’re one up up on us. So we’ve got a ways to go.”

Already on the power play, BU pulled goalie Kieran Millan and had a 6-on-4 advantage. Colby Cohen capitalized by scoring with 2:46 remaining to cut the Eagles’ lead to one, 4-3.

BC started the second period with a 5-on-3 power play and with BU on the verge of killing off both penalties, Steven Whitney scored 61 seconds into the period – and with 15 seconds left on the power play – to knot the game, 1-1.

Carl Sneep fired a shot from the right point that beat Kieran Millan to the far side at 12:33 and BC had the lead.

BC capped its domination in the period with a spectacular Chris Kreider goal at 15:48. He took a pass from Jimmy Hayes in the neutral zone and rushed up the left wing. He put a Gretzky-like move on Terriers blue liner Max Nicasatro and slipped the puck past a helpless – and stunned – Millan for a 3-1 Eagles’ lead.

Eagles are 14-1-1 this season when leading after two. BU is just 1-7-2 this year when trailing after two.

Boston University’s Kevin Shattenkirk capitalized on a bad clearing pass by BC defenseman Philip Samuelsson to score the first goal of the game at 13:36 of the first period.

And the first period ends with BU leading, 1-0. BU’s Sean Escobedo and Colby Cohen take penalties in the final 90 seconds of the period so BC will be on a two-man PP for the first 39 seconds of the second period.

BU is outshooting BC, 9-8, in the first 20 minutes.

Even though his team just dispatched Northeastern, 2-1, in a hard-fought Beanpot semifinal at TD Garden Monday night, Boston University coach Jack Parker was very honest about playing Boston College next Monday night in yet another BU-BC showdown for the 58th Beanpot championship game.

“The Beanpot is losing its luster a little bit if it’s constantly going to be BU or BC winning this tournament. We dodged a bullet tonight. These teams are real good hockey programs, Harvard and Northeastern. It’s not good overall, people are going to get tired of it. People are tired of it in some ways.”

[Click here to hear Parker's analysis of the BU-BC tradition that is growing old in the eyes of some.]

BU has won a record 29 Beanpot titles, and has reached the title game in 25 of the last 27 years. In the first game, Boston College hammered Harvard, 6-0, to reach its 30th Beanpot title game.

The two schools have combined to win the last 16 Beanpots, dating to Harvard’s title in 1993. The two programs have met in the Beanpot title game in eight of those 16.

Alex Chiasson’s shot dribbled past Chris Rawlings with 5:47 left in the third to lead the Boston University Terriers to a 2-1 win over the Northeastern Huskies in the second Beanpot semifinal on Monday night at TD Garden.

Northeastern had a power play and pulled the goalie for the final 88 seconds but could not score. The Terriers (10-11-3) advance to face their archrival Boston College in the 58th Beanpot Championship game next Monday night at TD Garden. BC advanced with an easy 6-0 romp over Harvard in Monday’s first semifinal.

Northeastern (11-12-1) had tied it midway through the third on a power play goal by Kyle Kraemer.

“I thought it was a great college hockey game to watch,” said BU coach Jack Parker. “There were times when each time had a lot of possession in the other teams zone, a lot of good opportunities. Both goaltenders played great. It was pressed right to the end, they got the power play goal to tie it up and then we get the two-on-one on a nice break.

“[David] Warsofsky jumping in the play creates the two-on-one and Chaisson takes the shot and gets it buy him. We’ve played Northeastern twice this year and got two goals total against them. We attempted 80 shots tonight and I think we attempted 86 the last time we played them over in there place. So we have had some opportunities against this goaltender and he has had played extremely well against us I thought our goalie played great and he made an unbelievable save at the end of the game.” Read the rest of this entry »