Darin Smith Jr. made a layup with 3.6 seconds to play to give visiting Central Connecticut State a 60-59 victory over Boston College on Tuesday night.
Boston College’s Donald Hand Jr. missed a 3-pointer on the final possession.
Arkansas transfer Melo Sanchez came off the bench to score a team-high 17 points for Central Connecticut (2-1). Sanchez made 5 of his 8 3-point attempts. The Blue Devils received 14 points from Smith and nine points and seven rebounds from Max Frazier.
Fred Payne led Boston College (1-2) with 17 points. He converted an and-one layup and hit the ensuing free throw to give the Eagles a 59-58 advantage with 2:02 to play, but Boston College failed to score the rest of the way.
Hand scored 11 points yet shot 1-of-12 from 3-point territory.
Boston College scored the game’s first eight points, but Central Connecticut promptly drew level with an 8-0 run.
The Eagles led 17-10 and 24-17, but the Blue Devils got within two points at 27-25 following a Smith free throw with 50 seconds left in the first half. Boston College was up 30-26 at halftime.
Each team shot 32% from the field in the first 20 minutes. Central Connecticut was 9-of-28 from the field, and Boston College was 11-of-34.
Boston College had its largest lead of the game after a Hand jump shot put the Eagles up 39-28 with 17:23 to play. Central Connecticut trimmed its deficit to one point on a Sanchez 3-pointer that made it 52-51 with 7:57 left.
The Blue Devils took their first lead, 55-54, on a Frazier dunk with 6:45 left, but the Eagles regained the lead on a Payne layup that gave the Eagles a 56-55 advantage with 4:34 to play.
Central Connecticut went in front 58-56 on a James Jones jump shot with 3:04 remaining.
