BOSTON (AP) For Boston College coach Jim Christian and Wake Forest's Danny Manning, their first regular season in the Atlantic Coast Conference has finally come to an end.
Olivier Hanlan scored 19 points with eight assists on Saturday to help BC finish the year with a 79-61 victory over Wake Forest. It was the third straight Atlantic Coast Conference win for Boston College (12-18, 4-14), which didn't win consecutive conference games all of last season under Steve Donahue.
Asked what he learned from his first year in the ACC, Christian said: ''When you get opportunities to win, you've got to win.
''There's going to be times in this league where you're going to play really, really well and lose,'' Christian said. ''It's that type of league.''
Wake Forest (13-18, 5-13) might have felt that way last month, when it lost by one point at second-ranked Virginia. The Demon Deacons followed that with losses to then-No. 10 Notre Dame and another to Virginia - this one a blowout - and then, after a victory over Pittsburgh, a loss to third-ranked Duke.
Boston College had struggled, losing 11 of its first 12 ACC games before winning the last three.
''I knew it was a tough league coming into it,'' said Manning, the former Kansas star and first overall NBA draft pick who spent two years as the Tulsa head coach before taking over in Winston-Salem. ''I knew we would be playing against great players, really tough coaches.''
Codi Miller-McIntyre scored 24 for Wake Forest.
Both teams had already locked up seeds among the bottom four in the ACC tournament.
Wake Forest finished 11th in the conference, one spot above BC, and will play last-place Virginia Tech in the opening round on Tuesday. Boston College will play 13th-place Georgia Tech for the right to join the rest of the league in the second and third rounds.
''It doesn't really matter who we play,'' said Patrick Heckmann, who scored 14 points. ''We're going to ... try to keep the season going.''
Aaron Brown added 13 for the Eagles, who went on a 9-2 run in the final minutes of the first half to open a 10-point lead. BC led 49-40 in the second before scoring nine of the next 11 points. They followed with seven straight points to turn a 12-point lead into a runaway.
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TIP-INS
Wake Forest is 6-9 versus BC since the Eagles joined the ACC and 2-6 all-time in Chestnut Hill. ... The Demon Deacons shot 2 for 10 from 3-point range in the first half and only made half of their eight free throws.
Boston College did not win consecutive ACC games all of last season. ... Hanlan had 10 points and five assists in the first half.
SENIOR DAY
Christian started his seniors for the last home game of the year. Alex Dragicevich made his first start of the year, and Eddie Odio also moved back into the starting lineup. They were joined by usual starters Brown, Heckmann and Dimitri Batten.
Dragicevich and Odio came out at the first whistle.
HARD FOUL
Tempers flared with 1:56 left when Batten was knocked to the floor by a shoulder from Devin Thomas. The referees conferred and called a flagrant foul. BC led 75-58 at the time. Batten made 1 of 2 free throws, and Christian emptied his bench.
UP NEXT
Wake Forest will play Virginia Tech in the opening round of the ACC tourney in Greensboro, North Carolina, on Tuesday.
Boston College will play Georgia Tech in the first round of the ACC tournament on Tuesday.
