BOSTON (AP) -- Corey Raji had a pair of timely baskets to finish with 22 points and nine rebounds, helping Boston College recover from a tough home loss three days earlier with an 86-75 win over Georgia Tech on Saturday.
Reggie Jackson led Boston College (12-4, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) with 25 points on 8 of 9 shooting despite late foul trouble. Biko Paris had 11 points and seven assists.
The Eagles have won nine of their last 11 games.
Kammeon Holsey led the Yellow Jackets (7-7, 0-1) with 18 points, Iman Shumpert had 15 and Mfon Udofia 14.
Georgia Tech led 43-41 less than a minute into the second half, but BC scored 16 of the ensuing 20 points, taking a 57-47 advantage on Danny Rubin's 3 from the top of the key with just over 16 minutes to play.
After the Yellow Jackets called time out to try and stem the Eagles' momentum, Jackson hit a long 3 -- about three steps beyond the arc from the top, giving BC a 60-47 lead with 14:09 left.
The Eagles were coming off an embarrassing nonconference home loss to Harvard, 78-69, on Wednesday -- the third season in the row they were defeated at Conte Forum by the Crimson. BC has lost just twice at home this season, the other to Yale, also from the Ivy League, where Eagles' first-year coach Steve Donahue led Cornell to three straight conference titles.
After that, the game got sloppy with a number of fouls and turnovers.
The Eagles maintained a comfortable lead until the Yellow Jackets slowly climbed back with a 10-2 run over a 4 1/2 minute stretch, closing it to 70-67 on Holsey's turnaround in the lane.
Raji's putback pushed the lead up to five points and his turnaround bank shot in the lane gave BC a 76-69 advantage with 1:38 to play.
In a high energy, fast-paced start that didn't have the first whistle until nearly four minutes into the game, BC broke to a 21-14 lead until Georgia Tech responded by scoring eight of the next 10 points, taking a 24-23 edge on Holsey's basket. The teams then traded the lead five times before Holsey's layup with 2.8 seconds left sent it to halftime tied at 39.
The Eagles won their ACC opener at Maryland, 79-75, on Dec. 12.
Updated January 8, 2011
