Jan. 29, 2005
Box Score
By JIMMY GOLEN
AP Sports Writer
BOSTON - Craig Smith had 20 points and eight rebounds, and No. 8 Boston College shut out Georgetown for a 15-minute span in the first half to win 64-49 on Saturday night and extend its record to 18-0.
Jared Dudley scored 13 for BC (7-0 Big East), which is one victory short of the longest winning streak in school history - 19 straight in 1968-69. The Eagles remain one of two unbeaten teams in the nation with top-ranked Illinois, which beat Minnesota to improve to 21-0 earlier Saturday.
Brandon Bowman scored 16 points and Tyler Crawford had 12 points with six rebounds for Georgetown (13-6, 5-3). The Hoyas, who lost for just the third time in 12 games, haven't beaten a top 10 team since 1996; they did beat No. 16 Pittsburgh earlier this month.
BC led by 16 points early in the second half and still held a 36-22 lead with 12:58 to play when Bowman hit a 3-pointer to spark an 8-0 run. After BC went up 40-30, Crawford scored on a layup, Ashanti Cook hit a 3-pointer and then Crawford scored off an offensive rebound to make it a five-point game.
But BC rolled off a 13-4 run, going 8-for-8 from the line before Louis Hinnant capped it with a 3-pointer at the shot-clock buzzer to make it 55-41 with 2:53 left. The Eagles made 15 consecutive free throws down the stretch.
With just under a minute left, the usually quiet Conte Forum crowd struck up a cheer of "Undefeated!"
The Hoyas made their first shot of the game - Cook's 3-pointer 52 seconds in - and then missed their next 14 over the next 15:03 while committing 12 turnovers in that span. The drought ended when Roy Hibbert made a fourth-chance dunk with 4:05 left in the half.
They weren't much better from the free throw line, where they went just 1-for-4 in the first half. The 12 first-half points were the second-lowest total in Big East history, with Providence getting just 11 on Jan. 5, 2002, against UConn.
But BC wasn't much better. The Eagles made just 10 of 24 shots and led 24-12 after one.
BC guard Steve Hailey missed his fourth consecutive game with an injured right ankle.
