Boston College men’s basketball beats Georgia Tech with 20-point game from Donald Hand Jr.

Boston College needed a strong home game to beat a bad road team.

Donald Hand Jr. continued his torrid scoring pace with 20 points to lead the Eagles to a convincing 69-54 upset victory over Georgia Tech on Saturday Senior Day at Conte Forum.

BC improved to 12-15 overall, 4-12 in the ACC and avenged an 85-64 loss to the Yellow Jackets in Atlanta on Jan. 5. Georgia Tech fell to 13-14 overall, 7-9 in the conference and 1-8 on the road.

BC shot 42% from the floor, made nine 3-point shots with 35 rebounds and 15 assists. BC held Tech to 32% from the floor and 5-for-23 from behind the arc. In consecutive home wins over Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech, the Eagles defense limited the opposition to 90 combined points.

“We wanted to be gritty, not pretty and this is a hard worker place, a fighter’s place with a blue-collar mentality,” said BC coach Earl Grant. “Now we are starting to believe but it’s late in the year and there is still some season left. They are starting to believe and buying into the scheme and the system and talking more.”

Hand has been one of the hottest scorers in the conference in the past month and has twice earned ACC Player of Week honors. Hand has scored 179 points in the last eight games for a 22.38 per game average with 56 field goals and 30 from downtown.

“He has got a lot of equity built up and he has made a lot of investments into the program so he can draw from that,” said Grant. “He has the green light but sometimes it’s too green and I have to get him back to yellow.

“It has been an accelerated growth for him and the opportunity and the minutes have helped him. He is the first recruit we signed here and we signed him to be gritty. “

Up by five at the half, Vanning powered up a pair of put-back layups to give BC a 36-27 lead at 18:11. The surge prompted Georgia Tech coach Damon Stoudamire to call a timeout.

After BC made three defensive stops, Vanning rainbowed a jump hook and sank two from the line to give BC a 40-27 lead with 15:40 to play. Vanning had two rebounds and two blocked shots on the defensive end in the opening five minutes and he finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and four blocks.

“I thought Chad Venning was a junkyard dog, he cleaned up a lot of mistakes when the ball was getting downhill,” said Grant. “He had some crucial blocks.”

BC opened the half with a 15-8 run and led 47-35 at the second media timeout. Georgia Tech methodically cut into the Eagles and trailed 58-52 with 3:27 to play. BC went up 64-52 on a pair of free throws by Hand and Roger McFarlane with 1:37 on the clock.

“We weathered the storm and the guys were poised enough to continue to execute and get the stops that we needed at the end,” said Grant.

Both camps were efficient in transition and long-range shooting from the opening tap. Hand got off to another hot start scoring five to give the Eagles 11-9 advantage into the first media timeout.

The Eagles got a scare when starting junior guard Dion Brown slammed his head on the floor while contesting a defensive rebound with Baye Ndongo with 13:58 to play in the half. Brown was gingerly assisted to his feet and exited the floor accompanied by the BC medical staff. Brown was examined and returned to the floor before the end of the half

Tech took its first lead, 14-13, on two from the line by Ndongo with 11:18 to play. BC responded with three straight treys by Joshua Beadle, Hand and Elijah Strong and led 22-18 at the third media timeout.

BC took its biggest lead of the half, 25-18, on a corner three by Strong with 7:13 to play. Hand nailed his third 3-ball of the half with 1:29 to play and BC led 32-27 at the break.