NC State 67, Virginia 64
C.J. Leslie had 19 points and 14 rebounds and North Carolina
State, attempting to remove all doubt about its NCAA tournament
status, beat Virginia 67-64 on Friday to advance to the semifinals
of the ACC tournament.
Mike Scott had 23 points and 10 rebounds and Joe Harris finished
with 18 points for Virginia.
The Wolfpack will play No. 1 seed North Carolina in Saturday’s
first semifinal.
N.C. State (21-11) came to Atlanta listed as a possible bubble
team for the NCAA tournament before beating Boston College on the
opening day of the ACC tournament.
The Cavaliers knew this was a huge game, celebrating as the
buzzer sounded as though they had just punched their NCAA
tournament ticket.
Virginia (22-9), the No. 4 seed, had a first-round bye but was
denied its first spot in the ACC semifinals since 1995, extending
the league’s longest drought.
N.C. State’s Richard Howell, who had 10 points, missed two free
throws with 1:11 remaining, costing the Wolfpack a chance to extend
a 63-60 lead. Scott missed a short jumper for Virginia with 40
seconds remaining.
Lorenzo Brown, who had 15 points, made one of two free throws to
push the lead to four points. Harris made two free throws for
Virginia with 25 seconds remaining. Following a quick foul, Scott
Wood made only one of two free throws for N.C. State, leaving the
lead at three points.
Harris then missed a three-pointer for Virginia and fouled
Brown, who made both free throws with 7.2 seconds remaining for a
67-62 lead.
Wood sank five 3-pointers while scoring 22 points in Thursday’s
78-57 win over Boston College. He was 0-for-4 on 3-point attempts
against Virginia before ending the drought with a 3-pointer with
less than 1 second remaining in the first half.
Wood, fouled on the play by Sammy Zeglinski, sank the free throw
to complete the four-point play and give the Wolfpack a 36-33
halftime lead.
Virginia led 9-3 before the Wolfpack took off on a 14-0 run. The
Cavaliers recovered to briefly take the lead late in the half.
