Hurricanes ground Eagles behind Udeh’s defense, Dovrat’s career high 12 points

Ernest Udeh Jr. scored 11 points and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds for the game’s only double-double to lead the Miami Hurricanes to a dominating 76-54 win over the Boston College Eagles on Saturday, at home.

Led by Udeh’s defense, the Hurricanes held the Eagles to 20-of-50 shooting including 5-of-22 from the three-point line.

“Defense has always been just an instinctive thing for me,” Udeh said. “That just all falls on my energy, how much effort I’m giving out while I’m on the floor. I know my abilities, my God given talents and my athletic ability. And for me, it’s just every single night, just going out there, playing harder than the guy in front of us, and those are the results. Just making sure that on the defensive end, I’m doing everything that I can to help my team out.”

Tre Donaldson led the Hurricanes (23-6) with 15 points while both Malik Reneau and Shelton Henderson each scored eight points. While the Hurricanes collectively shot 7-of-20 from three, Noam Dovrat made 4-of-5 from beyond the arc in the second half to finish with a career high 12 points.

“I know my role in the team is to shoot the ball outside the three-point line so I just came in and shoot it,” Dovrat said. “I have the confidence from the coach, from the teammates. Whenever I’m open, just shoot it.”

Boston College (10-19) was led by Bowden Kapke, who scored 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Jayden Hastings and Fred Payne each scored 11 points for the Eagles.

Led by Kapke’s eight points, the Eagles ambushed the Canes with a 13-6 lead through the first five minutes of the game. Boston College made three baskets from behind the three-point line to establish its early advantage.

The Hurricanes stormed back with a 10-2 run to take a 16-15 lead with 11 minutes remaining in the first half. Miami established its advantage in the interior by scoring all of its points from within the three-point line.

The Eagles tied the game 17-17 on a 4-foot alley oop dunk by Hastings with 8:29 left in the first half.

A tip-in dunk and layup by Henderson highlighted a Miami 10-0 run to take a 27-17 lead.

After seven failed attempts, Miami finally made a three-pointer. Donaldson drained a triple and the Hurricanes enter halftime having outscored the Eagles 19-2 since the game was last tied.

A driving layup by Henderson kept Miami’s lead to 15, up 40-25 with 15:50 left in the game.

Miami grew its lead to 23 points later in the second half with back-to-back three pointers by Dovrat. The freshman point guard from Israel made his third triple of the game to put Miami up 69-45 with 5:09 left in the game.

The Hurricanes travel to SMU on Wednesday and close out the regular season at home against No. 24 Louisville on Saturday.