Chestnut Hill, MA (SportsNetwork.com) - Chris Jones poured in 28 points and Terry Rozier added 23 as No. 10 Louisville downed Boston College, 81-72, at Conte Forum.
Montrezl Harrell posted 12 points and Wayne Blackshear had 10 points for the Cardinals (17-3, 5-2 ACC), who have won two in a row since losing to Duke.
"I've got great memories here," said Cardinals head coach Rick Pitino, who returned to the area for the first time since his stint as Celtics bench boss ended in 2001. "Wish things would have turned out better for me at the end."
Aaron Brown led the way with a career-high 28 points for the Eagles (9-10, 1-6), with Patrick Heckmann and Olivier Hanlan adding 14 and 11 points, respectively, in defeat. Hanlan dished out nine assists.
Boston College whittled a 10-point deficit down to one when Hanlin split two free throws to bring the hosts to 62-61 with 5:13 left in regulation. Jones shifted the momentum with a triple, and after Hanlin missed his trey, Jones fired again from long range and it was 68-61 with 3:29 remaining.
"You have to make those in those situations. You probably don't get another chance," Jones said. "I knocked down the two biggest shots of the game."
The Eagles twice pulled within five, the last time on a Hanlin layup for a 70-65 game, but Jones scored four in a row and the Cardinals led 74-65 with 52 seconds to play.
Blackshear scored five straight and Louisville led 8-2 early on. Will Magarity's dunk reduced the visitors' deficit to 21-20, but Jones scored the final buckets of an 8-0 run lasting just over two minutes.
Brown's layup before the end of the half shrunk the Cardinals' edge to 35-33 at the break.
Rozier's bucket provided a 43-35 edge with 3 1/2 minutes played in the second half, and though a Hanlan layup several minutes later made it 45-42, Rozier converted a 3 and Louisville was ahead by a comfortable 59-49 margin with 8:06 to play.
"I have never seen two guards play the amount of minutes they play, with the intensity they play for the entire game," BC head coach Jim Christian said of Rozier and Jones. "It's really special to watch."
Game Notes
Jones shot 10-for-13 from the field, including 3-of-5 from beyond the arc ... Brown was 10-of-22 overall and 5-of-12 from long range ... Louisville has won three of the four all-time meetings, and the programs tipped off in suburban Boston for the first time since the Eagles posted an 81-67 decision at Conte on Nov. 30, 1995.
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