Strong first half helps BC clip Louisville

Claudell Harris Jr. had 18 points and eight rebounds as visiting Boston College ended the regular season with a second straight Atlantic Coast Conference victory, beating Louisville 67-61 on Saturday.

Devin McGlockton had 11 points and Quinten Post scored 10 for the Eagles (17-14, 8-12 ACC), who used a 12-0 surge early in the second half to stay in control. Boston College overcame 16 turnovers by holding Louisville (8-23, 3-17) to 33.3 percent shooting and owning a 42-31 rebounding advantage.

The Eagles shot 53.6 percent from the field in the first half, when they scored 12 points off nine Louisville turnovers before leading 41-31 at the break. Post was limited to just three minutes after committing three fouls, and Boston College racked up 14 first-half fouls as a team.

The Cardinals scored the first six points of the second half, four coming from Kaleb Glenn, to make it a 41-37 game. However, Post converted a short jumper, then five consecutive points from Harris and another five from McGlockton made up the 12-0 spurt that opened a 53-37 lead for the visitors.

Brandon Huntley-Hatfield had 14 points for Louisville, and his basket with 6:20 remaining pulled his team within 61-53. Harris then knocked down a 3 with 5:43 to go to make it a double-digit game again, and the Cardinals never threatened the rest of the way in what could have been embattled coach Kenny Payne's final home game.

Louisville posted the first four points of the game before Boston College scored 17 of the next 18 to lead 17-5. Later in the first half, the Eagles used a 7-0 run, highlighted by McGlockton's 3-pointer, to go up 36-22 with 5:25 remaining before the break.

However, the Cardinals showed fight by scoring the game's next nine points, keyed by four points from reserve Danilo Jovanovich, to get within 36-31.

Harris would end up hitting a trey at the buzzer, though, and Boston College took a 41-31 advantage into halftime.

—Field Level Media