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ATLANTA — Boston College upset Duke in February. Now the Eagles will get a shot to knock off the No. 9-ranked Blue Devils in the ACC tournament.

Boston College (22-10) had little trouble with Virginia in the first round, setting up a quarterfinal matchup against Duke (25-6) at 9:30 p.m. today in the Georgia Dome.

Leading scorer Tyrese Rice had a quiet game with nine points, but the Eagles still built a 14-point first-half lead en route to a 76-63 victory over the Cavaliers (10-18) in the final game Thursday night.

Rakim Sanders had 25 points to lead BC, which was 31-for-36 from the foul line. Josh Southern scored 13 and Joe Trapani 12, while Rice had six assists and Southern nine rebounds.

BC is 3-4 against ranked teams this season, beating North Carolina and Florida State as well as Duke. The Tar Heels were No. 1 at the time.

Duke was ranked No. 6 when it lost 80-74 at BC on Feb. 15. The Eagles shot 58.8 percent in that game, with Rice scoring 21 points and Trapani 20.

But BC has also struggled at times, dropping four straight after the upset of North Carolina on Jan. 4 in Chapel Hill. Included was a loss to Harvard of the Ivy League.

Virginia, despite its 4-12 ACC record, is certainly better than the Crimson. But the Eagles, the No. 6 seed after going 9-7 in the ACC regular season, made sure there wouldn't be an upset this time.

BC had a 13-2 run to take a 29-15 lead with 7:55 left in the first half and was up 37-25 at the intermission thanks to a 8-3 run after No. 11-seed Virginia had briefly cut the lead to seven points.

Sanders scored 13 points in the first half to compensate for the slow starts of both Rice and Trapani. Each had just two points at intermission.

BC is 4-4 all-time in the ACC tournament, reaching the title game in 2006 — the Eagles' first season in the conference. BC, the third seed that year, lost to Duke 78-76 in the championship game.

Rice, a second-team All-ACC pick, got his first basket with 17:38 left and then fed Trapani to put BC up 43-28 with 16:38 remaining.

Virginia cut the deficit to 45-37 with 13:08 left. But Sanders then had a bucket and four free throws, putting the Eagles back up 51-37 with 11:16 to play.

BC won the regular-season game against the Cavaliers 80-70 at Virginia on Feb. 4. Rice and Sanders each had 20 points in that game. Sylven Landesberg scored 32 points for Virginia — his season high.

Landesberg, the ACC rookie of the year, had 11 points this time. Diane led the Cavaliers with 24 points.

VIRGINIA (10-18)

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts

Diane 35 8-13 4-4 1-3 1 4 24

Scott 31 1-5 1-3 7-12 0 5 3

Soroye 9 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 0

Baker 25 2-12 0-0 0-2 6 5 4

Landesberg 37 3-9 5-8 2-7 5 1 11

Farrakhan 14 2-5 0-2 0-2 0 1 5

Sene 9 0-1 0-0 1-2 0 3 0

Tucker 22 4-7 3-3 2-4 0 3 13

Zeglinski 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 0

Sherrill 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Jones 10 1-3 0-0 0-1 1 0 3

Tat 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 0

Totals 200 21-56 13-20 14-35 13 28 63

Percentages: FG .375, FT .650.

3-Point Goals: 8-18, .444 (Diane 4-6, Tucker 2-4, Farrakhan 1-2, Jones 1-2, Landesberg 0-1, Baker 0-3).

Team Rebounds: 2.

Blocked Shots: 3 (Soroye, Sene, Diane).

Turnovers: 20 (Farrakhan 4, Scott 4, Landesberg 3, Diane 3, Sene 2, Tucker 2, Tat, Zeglinski).

Steals: 5 (Diane 3, Landesberg, Tucker).

Technical Fouls: None.

BOSTON COLLEGE (22-10)

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts

Raji 20 4-10 3-3 1-2 0 4 11

Trapani 21 3-8 5-6 0-5 1 3 12

Southern 32 5-7 3-5 4-9 0 2 13

Rice 28 1-6 7-8 1-6 6 3 9

Sanders 32 7-11 11-12 4-7 1 2 25

Jackson 27 0-4 2-2 0-0 0 3 2

Paris 13 0-3 0-0 0-1 2 0 0

Roche 19 1-2 0-0 0-1 1 0 2

Dunn 8 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 2

Totals 200 22-52 31-36 12-36 11 19 76

Percentages: FG .423, FT .861.

3-Point Goals: 1-8, .125 (Trapani 1-4, Sanders 0-1, Roche 0-1, Rice 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 5.

Blocked Shots: 3 (Southern 2, Sanders).

Turnovers: 14 (Southern 4, Trapani 3, Rice 3, Jackson 2, Sanders, Paris).

Steals: 7 (Jackson 4, Sanders, Rice, Roche).

Technical Fouls: None.

Virginia 25 38 — 63

Boston College 37 39 — 76

A—26,352. Officials—Les Jones, Mike Wood, Bernard Clinton.