Dec. 14, 1997 UMass Defeats BC in Commonwealth ClassicBOSTON - Monty Mack scored a career-high 20 points as Massachusetts defeated Boston College 65-57 before a sparse crowd Sunday in the third annual Commonweath Classic at the FleetCenter. Charlton Clarke and Tyrone Weeks had 13 points apiece for the Minutemen (5-3). Weeks also had 13 rebounds. Kostas Maglos paced the Eagles (6-4) with 20 points. Two years ago, the schools filled the FleetCenter to its capacity of 18,974. Last year, the game drew 15,215. High ticket prices ($50 and $35, students $20) and the fact that both teams are unranked may have caught up with the event, which drew only 9,218 Sunday. Massachusetts has won all three of the annual meetings. Midway into the second half, Boston College closed the score to 45-41 on Mickey Curley's basket. After Clarke hit one free throw for UMass, BC's Duane Woodward missed a fastbreak layup, and Mack had a breakaway basket, making it 48-41. Following another Eagles miss, Mack had another fast-break layup and Weeks had a 3-point play, pushing the Minutemen ahead 53-41. BC sliced the score to 57-50 on Duane Woodward's basket with 6:02 to play, but Clarke and Weeks had baskets 30 seconds apart to put Massachusetts back in front by 11. The Eagles never moved closer than within 6 points the rest of the way. In the first half, Massachusetts jumped ahead 9-0 in the opening 2 1/2 minutes, hitting its first four shots from the floor. Boston College closed the gap to 12-7 before the Minutemen, who nailed their first five 3-point attempts, went on 11-2 run to pull in front by 14. Massachusetts maintained at least an 8-point edge en route to a 33-25 lead at intermission.
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