Photos by Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times

Virginia Tech's Dorian Finney-Smith (right) scores the game-winning basket over Boston College's Lonnie Jackson (center).

Virginia Tech's Erick Green (right) drives on Boston College's Lonnie Jackson late in the second half on Sunday.

BLACKSBURG - For the fourth game in the past 11, the Virginia Tech men's basketball team had the chance to tie the score or take the lead in the final seconds.

This time, the ball finally went in the basket.

Freshman forward Dorian Finney-Smith scored on a tip-in with 2.4 seconds left to give the Hokies a 66-65 win over Boston College on Sunday at Cassell Coliseum.

"It's good," he said with a laugh when asked how it felt to score the winning basket. "I hope plenty more will come."

Finney-Smith, who recently broke out of an 0-for-25 shooting slump, scored seven of Tech's final nine points. He had a game-high 17 points and a game-high eight rebounds.

"I just heard my coach say, 'Attack,' and I did," he said.

In a 58-55 loss at Wake Forest on Jan. 7, Robert Brown missed a 3-pointer with two seconds left.

With Florida State leading a Jan. 10 game 61-59, Erick Green missed a jumper with eight seconds left. Okaro White made two free throws, and FSU won 63-59.

In a 70-68 loss to BYU on Jan. 25, Green's layup was blocked with three seconds left and Brown missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

So Sunday was a welcome change for the Hokies (14-11, 3-7 ACC), who scored the final seven points of the game.

"It finally went our way," Green, who had 10 points, said with a laugh. "I'm just proud of our team for how we handled adversity today for the first time.

"We didn't quit. When we got down a couple, we didn't give up like we did against Miami [on Thursday]."

Prior to the winning basket, BC (8-17, 3-8) had led since there was 16:35 remaining.

"Our guys could've cashed it in a number of different times tonight," Tech coach Seth Greenberg said. "They grew up a little. ... They showed they wanted to win."

Green made a layup to cut the lead to 65-61 with 1:18 to go.

After a turnover by BC's Lonnie Jackson, Finney-Smith rebounded Green's missed layup, scored on the putback and was fouled. He yelled excitedly after making the basket. He sank the free throw to cut the lead to 65-64 with 28.1 seconds to go.

Jackson, one of four freshmen in BC's starting lineup, missed the front end of a one-and-one with 26.2 seconds left.

Finney-Smith got the rebound.

With 11.7 seconds left, Green took the inbounds pass and drove to the basket. Green said that because the defense collapsed on him, he decided to pass the ball back out to Brown.

Brown missed a 3-pointer with four seconds left. But the long-armed Finney-Smith grabbed the rebound with both hands and tipped the ball in.

"When I got it, I was like, 'Oh yeah, I got this one,'" Finney-Smith said.

"If the ball goes right or left, we probably win," BC coach Steve Donahue said. "It goes right up and Finney-Smith does his great job and gets in there and gets it."

Jackson missed a shot from a few feet inside the halfcourt line at the buzzer.

BC, ranked last in the ACC in rebounding margin, was outrebounded 33-19. Finney-Smith had seven of Tech's 18 offensive rebounds.

Finney-Smith had gone six straight games without a basket before making five of them in a Feb. 4 win over Clemson. He had just two baskets in Thursday's 65-49 loss at Miami but was 7 of 10 from the field Sunday.

Dorenzo Hudson scored all 11 of his points in the second half. Victor Davila added 10 points.

Ryan Anderson had 17 points for BC, which shot 55.8 percent from the field and sank nine 3-pointers.

Greenberg said he did not like how his team competed at Miami, so he based his starting lineup Sunday on which players had practiced the hardest. Hudson started instead of Jarell Eddie, and C.J. Barksdale started instead of Finney-Smith.

Barksdale left the game early in the second half with an injured ankle.

BOSTON COLLEGE (8-17)

Anderson 6-7 4-4 17, Clifford 5-6 0-0 10, Daniels 2-5 0-1 6, Humphrey 5-14 2-2 13, Jackson 4-8 2-2 14, Moton 1-2 0-0 2, Visockas 0-0 0-0 0, Odio 0-0 0-0 0, Cahill 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 24-43 8-9 65.

VIRGINIA TECH (14-11)

Davila 5-6 0-0 10, Barksdale 1-4 1-1 3, Hudson 4-11 2-4 11, Rankin 0-2 0-0 0, Green 4-11 1-2 10, Brown 3-6 0-0 8, Raines 2-5 0-0 4, Finney-Smith 7-10 2-3 17, Eddie 1-5 0-0 3. Totals 27-60 6-10 66.

Halftime-Boston College 29-27. 3-Point Goals-Boston College 9-22 (Jackson 4-7, Daniels 2-5, Cahill 1-1, Anderson 1-2, Humphrey 1-6, Clifford 0-1), Virginia Tech 6-15 (Brown 2-3, Green 1-2, Finney-Smith 1-2, Hudson 1-3, Eddie 1-4, Rankin 0-1). Fouled Out-None. Rebounds-Boston College 19 (Anderson 7), Virginia Tech 33 (Finney-Smith 8). Assists-Boston College 13 (Humphrey 5), Virginia Tech 11 (Brown, Finney-Smith, Green, Hudson 2). Total Fouls-Boston College 10, Virginia Tech 12. A-9,171.