Behind Post, BC Goes Big on the Road in Win Over Wolfpack
Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom)
Publisher
Masks have become commonplace during the pandemic. But the kind Quinten Post had to wear Wednesday night at North Carolina State was hard to come by.
The protective face guard was in the depths of a Boston College men’s basketball equipment closet, Post said. And it didn’t fit the 7-foot center, who broke his nose two days earlier against Florida State.
“My face was watering down with sweat,” the Amsterdam native said. “And it's kind of hard to see sometimes with the freaking glass thing in front of my face, but it worked out.”
“Worked out” is an understatement. Despite impaired vision, Post saw nine of his 10 shots fall while he piled up a team-high 18 points. He and fellow center James Karnik started together and combined for three dunks before the first media timeout and 12 of BC’s first 16 points.
Post and Karnik were part of a balanced Eagles scoring attack that converted 18 N.C. State turnovers—the Wolfpack’s most in ACC play this season—into 21 points en route to a 69-61 victory, BC’s second road win of the year.
The Eagles (11-16, 6-11 ACC) got DeMarr Langford Jr. back after the sophomore guard’s one-game absence, but they were still missing forward TJ Bickerstaff. Head coach Earl Grant played it cautious with Langford, bringing him off the bench. That meant he was going big with both Post and Karnik in the starting five.
The decision paid off. N.C. State (11-17, 4-13) had no answer for BC’s frontcourt duo.
“It's kind of like old school basketball,” Post said of the two-center rotation. “It creates a lot of mismatches because most teams only play with one bigger guy. And then that guy's usually on me or on James, which creates a mismatch on offense.
“We managed to make use of that today.”
As Post and Karnik dominated inside, the Wolfpack coughed up the ball six times during what became a 12-2 BC run. One of those giveaways resulted in a breakaway Langford dunk.
What kept N.C. State in the game was the backcourt tandem of Dereon Seabron and Terquavion Smith.
“They've been doing it all year,” Grant said. “I knew we couldn't shut 'em down. I just hoped we could make them take hard shots.”
Seabron carried the load early. He scored 12 of the Wolfpack’s first 14 points, and his self-made 8-3 run near the midway point of the first half made it a two-possession game.
BC responded by logging eight of the game’s next 10 points and going up, 27-16. That’s when things got interesting. Wolfpack head coach Kevin Keatts had his team switch to a 3-2 zone, which Grant admitted he and his staff “didn't spend enough time talking about” during Tuesday’s practice.
The defensive adjustment forced BC, at the time in a four-guard rotation, into mistakes and allowed N.C. State to close the gap.
Seabron got a friendly bounce on just his 10th triple of the year, and Smith returned with a bundle of energy after picking up two quick fouls earlier in the frame. The freshman hit back-to-back jumpers over Kanye Jones, the second of which was a 3-pointer, and then stole a Jaeden Zackery pass and cashed it in for a left-handed dunk on the other end.
Grant called a timeout and went back to his two-center look. Except, it wasn’t a quick fix. BC’s offensive lull continued while Casey Morsell knocked down a corner 3-pointer. It wasn’t for a few more minutes until the Eagles got back on the board with a Zackery triple. A pair of Seabron free throws cut BC’s lead to 33-31 just before intermission.
The beginning of the second half was far from pretty. BC and N.C. State shot a combined 1-of-10 from the floor in the opening four minutes.
After Zackery and Jericole Hellems traded 3-pointers, the Eagles embarked on a 12-0 run that featured a high-arcing Makai Ashton-Langford left-handed layup, a transition Brevin Galloway 3-pointer, a Post jumper from the right block and a Zackery steal and score.
The Eagles were disrupting passing lanes and stabbing at the ball on drives, generating a horde of turnovers along the way.
“I tell the guys all the time, ‘If I go to Vegas, I'm not gonna play blackjack, I'm gonna do nickel and dime slot,’” Grant said. “I don't really want to trap and gamble and press. I just want to pressure you and see if you make a mistake.”
BC kept building momentum amid what ended up being a 20-5 stretch. Post was at the heart of the offensive clinic. There was a sequence where he had a layup on one end and a block on Seabron on the other. Then he sank a long 2-pointer before setting a screen for Zackery to coast to the cup soon after.
The Eagles were leading, 57-44, with under seven minutes to go. Smith single-handedly transformed what could have spiraled into a blowout into a bit of a game. Like he did at the end of the first half, the 6-foot-4 guard made timely shots.
That included a trio of 3-pointers and a layup that cleaned up a Hellems miss. With less than two minutes remaining and a seven-point deficit, though, Smith’s barrage stopped, and the Langford brothers went a perfect 4-of-4 at the free throw line.
BC held on, despite one last push from Seabron and Smith, who converted an and-one and a left-handed dunk, respectively, in the final 60-some seconds.
The Eagles left PNC Arena with their second win away from Conte Forum this year: “roadkill,” according to point guard Jaeden Zackery.
And they’re starting to see results from what’s been, at times, a trying season.
“We really love each other,” Post said. “We have loved each other throughout the entire year. But right now that’s really showing up because we haven’t given in.
“We’ve had some tough patches, some losing streaks. But we have not given up. Ever.”
