BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) -- When Virginia Tech's Dorian Finney-Smith saw teammate Robert Brown's 3-point attempt in the waning moments bounce off the rim and up into the air, he knew exactly what was going to take place.
"It was slow motion," Finney-Smith said. "I was like, `Oh yeah, I've got this.'"
Dorian Finney-Smith scored 17 points, including a tip-in with 1.8 seconds left, to lift Virginia Tech past Boston College 66-65 on Sunday night.
The tip-in came after Boston College's Jordan Daniels missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 26.2 seconds remaining. Virginia Tech (14-11, 3-7 ACC) had called a timeout with 10.1 seconds left, and the Hokies got the ball to Erick Green, who drove down the lane and threw it to Brown. The sophomore launched a 3-pointer at the top of the key with 4 seconds left that bounced off the rim, but Finney-Smith tipped it in to give the Hokies a one-point lead.
"Everyone knew Erick Green was going to get the ball, but he swung it to Robert Brown, and I had a wide open lane to get the rebound," Finney-Smith said. "It felt good. My teammates and coaches kept telling me to go to the offensive boards and that's what I did.
"We've had a lot of close games. It feels really good to pull out one."
Boston College (8-17, 3-8) called a timeout for a final attempt. Lonnie Jackson took a long 3-pointer just inside of the halfcourt line that was off the mark, and Virginia Tech prevailed, winning for the second time in three games after losing three straight and six of seven.
"They grew up a little bit tonight," Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg said of his team. "They showed they wanted to win. They showed great resiliency. They showed some toughness. I'm not saying we were good on the defensive end. They made us guard for long periods of time, and we didn't guard their spread offense very well.
"But we stayed with it and made some plays. We made some plays we hadn't made. It's good to find a way to win a close game. We've got something we can build on."
Finney-Smith hit 7 of 10 from the floor and grabbed eight rebounds to pace the Hokies, who trailed for much of the game. The freshman from Portsmouth, Va., came off the bench for just the second time this season, as Greenberg shook up his lineup following the Hokies' ugly 65-49 loss at Miami on Thursday night.
Greenberg started freshman C.J. Barksdale for the first time this season and inserted guard Dorenzo Hudson back into the starting lineup. Hudson had come off the bench the previous seven games - with the Hokies going 2-5 in that stretch - but he carried the Hokies down the stretch against Boston College, scoring all 11 of his points in the final 10 minutes.
"I told them before practice (Saturday) that the five hardest-playing guys were going to play," Greenberg said. "The culture of this program is being tough. I was not happy with how competitive we were, and we're just trying to find one thing that can help us redefine ourselves. Those five guys were the five hardest-playing guys that day."
The Eagles somehow lost despite shooting a season-high 55.8 percent from the floor (24 of 43) - and easily the best by a Virginia Tech opponent this season. The Hokies had allowed just one team to shoot better than 50 percent all season.
The Eagles, who were looking for their first road win of the season, also made nine 3-pointers and turned the ball over only 10 times, but they got drilled on the boards, getting out-rebounded 33-19. The Hokies had 18 offensive rebounds.
"In some ways, we played better tonight than we did against Florida State (in a 64-60 upset of the Seminoles on Wednesday night) except for one facet of the game," Boston College coach Steve Donahue said. "I give Virginia Tech credit. They went after the ball, and they really hurt us with that.
"But everything else . I thought we moved the ball, I thought we defended the first shot better, I thought we played good position defense . There were a lot of positives. But that one big one was the offensive rebounds."
Ryan Anderson led Boston College with 17 points, and Jackson finished with 14.
