Feb. 28, 2006

Box Score

BOSTON (AP) - Craig Smith had 23 points and eight rebounds and Jared Dudley scored 22 on Tuesday night to help Boston College beat Wake Forest 80-65 and clinch a bye for the first round of its first Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

A victory over Virginia Tech in the regular-season finale could help the Eagles (23-6, 10-5 ACC) avoid top-ranked Duke until the conference championship game.

Trent Strickland scored 15 for Wake Forest (14-15, 2-13), which went 0-8 on the road in the conference.

BC was coming off a 74-72, double overtime victory over North Carolina State.

Wake Forest managed to open a 19-11 lead over BC before the Eagles scored 10 consecutive points - seven of them by Dudley. Of the last 23 points scored by BC in the first half, Dudley and Smith had 17.

Dudley went 10-for-10 from the free throw line. He scored 16 in the first half, when BC opened a 34-29 lead.