GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) - Craig Smith had 23 points and 15 rebounds while No. 11 Boston College shot 61 percent to beat No. 10 North Carolina 85-82 in the semifinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament Saturday.
Jared Dudley scored 21 points for the third-seeded Eagles (26-6), who have won 10 of 11 games to extend their late-season surge in their first ACC tournament. Boston College advanced to face No. 3 Duke in Sunday's championship.
Tyler Hansbrough had 23 points and 11 rebounds for the second-seeded Tar Heels (22-7), who had won 11 of 12 coming in but failed to reach the tourney finals for the fifth straight season.
The Eagles took the first meeting 81-74 in Chapel Hill in January, and this veteran group essentially won another road game in an arena packed full of fans wearing Tar Heel blue. The Eagles knocked down seemingly every open look to build a 14-point second-half lead and hold off a late spurt by the Tar Heels.
Boston College hit 33 of 54 shots, including an 8-for-16 effort from 3-point range, and took a 36-28 rebounding advantage.
But the Eagles' performance was as much a testament to their experience and unflappable poise down the stretch. Their starting five of two seniors, two juniors and a sophomore had combined to play in 468 games with 455 starts, a significant edge against a young North Carolina team that starts two freshmen and two upperclassmen who were reserves on last year's national-title winner.
Smith led that effort, going 11-for-16 from the field and tallying four assists. The All-ACC senior also made several key plays to answer North Carolina runs, with freshman teammate Tyrese Rice following his lead in the final 2 minutes.
Smith first rolled free from Reyshawn Terry on an inbounds pass with 2 seconds left on the shot clock for a layup to make it 80-74 with 2:46 left. He followed that by kicking it out to Rice for a 3-pointer on the next play, pushing it to 83-74 with about 2 minutes left.
Smith also made two big plays on the boards late, first tying up David Noel for a jump ball that gave it back to Boston College after a missed free throw from Dudley. Rice scored on the possession by tipping in his own miss to make it 85-78 with 27.6 seconds left.
The Tar Heels managed to close the gap to 85-82 on a layup by Noel with 4.1 seconds left, then fouled Rice with 2.7 seconds left. Rice missed the free throw, but Smith grabbed the ball from Noel, kicked it back outside to kill the clock and pointed to the Eagles fans in celebration as the final horn sounded.
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