Guard Reggie Jackson scored a career-high 31 points in Boston College’s 76-72 victory Sunday.

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – The Terrapin men’s basketball team had been here before. Entrenched in a back-and-forth battle, the Terps had suffered through a cold shooting stretch midway through the second half only to fight back in the game’s dying minutes.

Yet in a season slipping further and further away, their hopes ended in an all-too-familiar fashion. Boston College guard Reggie Jackson, whose decisive, late 3-pointer capped a 31-point outburst Saturday, delivered the latest blow to the Terps’ withering NCAA Tournament hopes in a 76-72 Eagle win.

After the final buzzer sounded inside Conte Forum, the Terps walked off with their heads down, eyes fixed on the floor. They fielded questions they had no real answers for. Their defense, a hallmark all season, had collapsed under the weight of Boston College’s outside shooting. Their offense was without key contributions from established scorers.

But most importantly, the loss was the Terps’ eighth unsuccessful bid against a top-50 RPI team this season.

“It feels like almost every game we’ve lost, it has been a close game,” forward Jordan Williams said. “We still haven’t found out what it is to get over that hump and win those close games.”

As they did after similar losses at Duke and Villanova, the Terps (16-9, 5-5 ACC) traced the beginnings of their latest defeat to a breakdown midway through the second half. After guard Terrell Stoglin hit a jumper with 11:54 remaining in the game, the Terps went more than five minutes without a field goal.

During that stretch, the Eagles (16-9, 6-5) went on a 10-0 run, including a 3-pointer by Jackson and consecutive layups off offensive rebounds by forward Corey Raji. On the offensive end, the Terps took errant shots, were whistled for traveling and committed a charging violation.

For the rest of the game, they played catch-up, relying on freshman guards Stoglin and Pe’Shon Howard to carry the scoring load. While the two combined for 28 points, the Eagles had built a big enough lead and hit enough key shots to capture another four-point win against the Terps. Boston College defeated the Terps in Comcast Center on Dec. 12, 79-75.

“We left guys open; we let guys get layups; we didn’t talk how we should talk,” said Gregory, who led the team with 15 points and added seven rebounds. “We tried to fight back, but we didn’t have enough time. … We think we can win these games, it’s just a matter of time.”

Jackson torched the Terps for a career-high 31 points, hitting five of seven from behind the arc and finding openings in a lackadaisical Terp defense for several easy dunks. The junior scored 13 of Boston College’s first 26 points and finished with a game-high eight rebounds.

“He’s difficult to defend because he can do so much,” said Stoglin, one of a host of Terps who tried to stop him.

Along with Jackson’s career day, the Eagles exposed the Terps’ defense with walk-on John Cahill, who drained three wide-open 3-pointers.

“We lost that game on the defensive end of the court,” coach Gary Williams said. “They did some things that we knew about, but we just didn’t do a good job of stopping them. It’s as simple as that.”

For the second straight game, Jordan Williams failed to register a double-double. Senior guards Adrian Bowie and Cliff Tucker, the team’s second- and third-leading scorers this season, respectively, also combined for just five points on 2-for-12 shooting.

But even as some struggled offensively, the Terps did enough to warrant a victory, according to Gary Williams, who said the Terps’ biggest missed opportunity came in their December loss, not in Saturday’s game.

“We just couldn’t get it done defensively,” Williams said. “You have to be able to stop people, and today we didn’t do that.”

Despite a halftime lead, the Terps didn’t play the full 40 minutes of basketball Williams has preached is necessary. Again, they fell victim to a crushing loss on the road.

“We thought we could come in here and get a win,” Gregory said. “It was a big game for us, and we fought during the game, but we couldn’t get it done.”

“We have to get tougher,” Jordan Williams said. “That’s the main thing. Toughness is the key. The day we become tougher is the day we become better.”

ceckard@umdbk.com