Boston College Basketball: Spartans Outpace Eagles 99-68

As the country slumbered through its Thanksgiving evening, Denzel Valentine did anything but slumber. Powered by Valentine's triple-double, the Michigan State Spartans ascended past the Boston College Eagles 99-68 in the quarterfinal round of the DirecTV Wooden Legacy. The win gave Spartans head coach Tom Izzo his 500th career win.

Eli Carter's 22 points weren't enough to best the high-octane Spartans, who had its sixth 80-plus game of the season.

The Eagles were able to keep the game relatively close early, only trailing by four ten minutes into the game. The Eagles, however, were outscored 24-19 in the final 10 minutes of the first half to go into the locker room down by 13. The Eagles trailed 46-33 at the half.

The second half was considerably less forgiving for the Eagles. The Spartans opened the second half on a 16-6 run in five minutes of game time. The trend only continued as the half went on, as Valentine dropped 16 points in the second half.

The Eagles big men continued a now two-game trend of foul trouble. Idy Diallo and Dennis Clifford both took three fouls in the second half, leading Christian to play Johncarlos Reyes in relief.

The loss is the Eagles' first loss of the season. The Eagles will continue in the Wooden Legacy tournament Friday afternoon.