Cardiac Canes win @ #17 BC without McClinton Late

By Kartik Krishnaiyer
Canes Rising Staff

Suffering two critical injuries and having to finish the game without a ball handler Miami still fended off #17 Boston College for a 77-71 road win in Chestnut Hill. Dwayne Collins, Adrian Thomas and Brian Asbury, a Miami-Dade/Broward county trio were massive in the second half as Jack McClinton had his worst night of the year. McClinton and Lance Hurdle fouled out late complicating matters since Eddie Rios was unavailible tonight. Julian Gamble was also out injured.

The importance of this win cannot be understated. The Hurricanes struggled on the road in the ACC last year and had previously lost seven straight at B.C. The Eagles defeated then #1 North Carolina in Chapel Hill last week and Miami lost its ACC opener at Clemson. I remarked to my friend last night that even though you do not want over emphasize one game, I believed a Miami win against BC would tell us that the Canes were a tourney team, while a loss would likely indicate Miami was NIT material.

More impressive than anything was the ability of the Canes to cope late in the game without McClinton. Brian Asbury showed senior leadership in that last minute and defensively Dwayne Collins and Jimmy Graham were outstanding. Much more on this victory later.