Sophomore forward V.J. King was 8 of 8 from the free-throw line while also scoring 15 points and freshman power forward Malik Williams added 10 points as the Cardinals (15-4, 5-1 ACC) won their fourth straight contest. Junior forward Ray Spalding collected 11 rebounds for Louisville, which improved to 12-1 at home.

Junior guard Jerome Robinson tallied 19 points to lead Boston College (13-7, 3-4). Sophomore guard Ky Bowman scored 16 points but was just 5-of-22 shooting from the field and committed seven of the Eagles' 16 turnovers.

Sophomore forward Nik Popovic and junior guard Jordan Chatman added 12 points apiece for Boston College, which shot just 35.4 percent from the field, including 8 of 29 from 3-point range. Louisville shot 40.4 percent from the field.

The Cardinals seemingly had put the game away when they led 67-49 with under four minutes to play before the Eagles made a last-ditch effort with 13 consecutive points. Three-pointers by freshman forward Steffon Mitchell, Robinson and Chatman pulled the Eagles within 67-62 with 1:04 to play and Chatman later drained another 3-pointer to move Boston College within 71-69 with 33 seconds to go.

But King made four three throws and sophomore guard Ryan McMahon added two as Louisville hung on to avoid an epic collapse.

The Cardinals led by two points at halftime before opening the second half with a 15-4 spurt to take a 46-33 lead.

Adel had nine points during the run -- including two 3-pointers -- and King finished it off with a dunk to give Louisville the 13-point advantage with 15:39 left.

The Eagles answered with a 10-2 charge and pulled within 48-43 on a layup by Popovic with 12:19 remaining.

But King responded with a jumper and a 3-pointer and Adel converted consecutive baskets as the Cardinals stretched the margin to 57-43 with 9:39 to go.

Louisville's lead topped out at 18 points with 3:57 left before the Boston College rally.

Nwora scored 13 first-half points as the Cardinals held a 31-29 edge at the break.

--Field Level Media