Boston College 81, Longwood 52

Jan 2, 2008, 08:55 pm

BOSTON (AP) -- Tyrese Rice scored 24 points and Rakim Sanders added 14 to lead Boston College to an 81-52 win over Longwood on Wednesday night.

Corey Raji had 11 points and Tyrelle Blair scored 10 and grabbed six rebounds for the Eagles (10-2).

Kirk Williams paced Longwood with 21 points.

Longwood (4-13), an independent playing its first season in Division I after completing a four-year reclassification process, dropped to 0-9 on the road, losing by an average margin of 26.6 points.

Boston College opened the game by scoring nine of the first 10 points and was never really tested. Longwood's first field goal came nearly four minutes into the contest.

The Eagles led 21-11 midway through the half before Rice scored all the points during a 10-5 run that pushed the lead to 31-16.

Raji's basket in the lane late in the half gave BC its first 20-point lead of the game, 38-18. The Eagles led 44-27 at halftime.

Longwood closed within 53-42 with 11:09 to play on the second of consecutive dunks by Williams, but that was as close as the Lancers got. Rice scored nine consecutive points in the closing 6 1/2 minutes to keep the Eagles on top.