NEWTON, Mass. -- Down 13 to a Top 25 opponent just more than halfway through the first half, things didn’t look overly promising for Boston College.

The game with No. 17 Florida State had been sloppy, and the swarming Seminoles defense had held the Eagles to just 10 points in the first 11:23.

But, all of a sudden, the Eagles got rolling. Jordan Daniels, BC’s diminutive point guard, hit a floater in the lane off a bounce pass from Dennis Clifford. Lonnie Jackson nailed a 3-pointer. Matt Humphrey hit his own. Daniels chipped in a trey, then another, this time from deeper.

The 5-foot-8, 153-pound Daniels’ second 3 in the run cut the FSU lead to one.

Thirty seconds later, Jackson was fouled on yet another made 3 and after converting the and-1 BC was up two.

The 18-3 run woke the Conte Forum crowd up, and the Seminoles found themselves on the ropes.

BC had done this before. The young Eagles have proven they can make runs to get back in games. They were in it late at then-No. 21 Virginia, then collapsed down the stretch. They battled Miami for 30 minutes, then wilted in the last 10.

But before Wednesday night they hadn’t proven they’re capable of finishing.

So when the Seminoles made a run early in the second half to erase a five-point BC lead and build a two-point cushion of their own, it wouldn’t have been shocking if the visitors had taken off and run the hosts out of their own building. After all, Florida State had won seven straight coming into the game, including upsets of No. 3 UNC and No. 4 Duke, and BC had lost six in a row.

You know what they say: You can’t teach experience. And the experience Steve Donahue’s Eagles have gotten so far in their collegiate careers proved invaluable on Wednesday.

“We’ve been in that position before,” Daniels said of being in a close game late. “Not many times this season have we been able to pull it out in the stretch, but this time we really came together and we were able to do it.”

BC answered the FSU run with a 10-2 run to go up 51-45 with 10:07 to go, battled hard down the stretch and upset the No. 17 Seminoles 64-60.

“I thought they really did a great job of not just trying not to make mistakes but trying to make plays,” Donahue said of his young Eagles. “I think that’s what you saw, particularly in the first half on the offensive end. Guys not worried about should they shoot it, should they pass it, more aggressive, stepping into shots.

“You can’t run a lot against Florida State, they really swarm you, so [the offense] really relies on guys being mentally tough throughout the possession. And I thought we did that.”

Daniels finished with a career-high 21 points -- including the last point of the game on a free throw to make it a two-possession game with 3.1 seconds remaining -- five assists and three rebounds. He committed just one turnover.

BC won despite without getting a single point from its bench. The Eagles outscored the Noles 15-9 on points off turnovers and shot 45.5 percent from beyond the arc, hitting five straight 3s in their first-half run.

Donahue praised Daniels for his role in making the offense move, said the zone defense the Eagles played in the second half helped save their legs late and bothered the Seminoles shooters, and gave kudos to his bench for doing the little things (fighting for rebounds, playing good defense and taking care of the ball).

But more than anything, this one was won because of lessons learned in the ones they lost.

“They’ve learned how to compete,” Donahue said, “now go out and make plays, take another step. You’re not freshmen anymore, you’ve gotta learn from what you just went through the last month and a half.”

The Eagles had gotten close before and failed. On Wednesday night, they got close, got ahead and stayed ahead.

After the buzzer sounded, they listened to the alma mater and then ran into the student section to celebrate the upset with the gold-T-shirt-clad fans. They’d gone toe-to-toe with one of the best and hottest teams in the country and come out on top.

“That was very exciting,” Daniels said. “We’ve been playing basketball all our lives, so those are the moments we live for.”

Jack McCluskey is an editor for ESPN.com and a frequent contributor to ESPNBoston.com. Follow him on Twitter @jack_mccluskey.