Tigers fall to N.C. State 69-61 in Raleigh |
Thursday night saw the North Carolina State Wolfpack find a little redemption.
And the Clemson Tigers found the climb to the NCAA Tournament get even steeper.
The Wolfpack blew a 19-point lead in losing at Clemson a few weeks ago, but overcame an early deficit of their own and then held onto the lead late in turning away the Tigers 69-61 at the RBC Center in Raleigh.
The loss means the Tigers (17-9 overall, 6-6 ACC) might need to win their four remaining ACC games – two of which are on the road – to make the NCAA Tournament, unless they make a deep run in the ACC Tournament.
The Wolfpack (14-11 overall, 4-7 ACC) scored nine straight points to take control of the game - beginning at the seven-minute mark - and made 11-of-14 free throws in the final four minutes to seal the victory
State’s three big men inside - senior Tracy Smith, sophomore Richard Howell and freshman C.J. Leslie - scored 41 points and grabbed 28 rebounds against the Tigers to secure their team’s second-consecutive league victory. Senior guard Javier Gonzalez came off the bench to score 11 points, including five free throws in the final five minutes of the game.
The Tigers led by as many as nine points in the first half, but the Wolfpack cut that down to 34-32 at intermission.
“I thought they got momentum going into halftime and, for whatever reason, we couldn’t score,” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said. “Our initial defense was good, but we couldn’t get them off the glass.”
The Wolfpack owned a 46-38 rebounding advantage on the boards.
State grabbed a short-lived one-point lead early in the second half, but the Tigers kept the game close until the seven-minute mark, when the Wolfpack began the 9-0 run.
Demontez Stitt finally ended State’s run with a three-point play at the 3:48 mark, but the Wolfpack held on thanks to its free-throw shooting.
The Tigers shot 37.5 percent from the field for the game, made just 10-of-16 free throw attempts and hit only 3-of-20 shots from 3-point range.
The Tigers return to action Sunday, when they travel to south Florida to take on the Miami Hurricanes at 3:30 p.m.
VISITORS: Clemson 17-9, 6-6 ACC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
02 Stitt, Demontez..... * 6-16 0-5 4-6 1 2 3 4 16 1 1 2 0 37
05 Smith, Tanner....... * 2-10 0-3 0-1 2 0 2 3 4 1 2 0 0 31
11 Young, Andre........ * 3-8 2-6 0-0 2 3 5 1 8 2 0 0 1 34
31 Booker, Devin....... * 2-7 0-0 0-0 0 4 4 2 4 0 2 0 0 27
45 Grant, Jerai........ * 6-11 0-0 1-3 1 4 5 1 13 1 0 2 0 30
03 Anderson, Zavier.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
10 Baciu, Catalin...... 0-0 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2
12 Stanton, Cory....... 1-3 1-2 1-2 1 1 2 2 4 0 0 0 0 7
21 Narcisse, Bryan..... 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 10
24 Jennings, Milton.... 4-8 0-3 2-2 4 5 9 3 10 0 0 1 2 20
TEAM................ 5 2 7
Totals.............. 24-64 3-20 10-16 17 21 38 17 61 5 5 5 3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-31 45.2% 2nd Half: 10-33 30.3% Game: 37.5% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-12 25.0% 2nd Half: 0-8 0.0% Game: 15.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-5 60.0% 2nd Half: 7-11 63.6% Game: 62.5% 2
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HOME TEAM: NC State 14-11, 4-7 ACC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
02 Brown, Lorenzo...... * 0-7 0-1 3-4 1 3 4 4 3 3 1 1 0 32
05 Leslie, C.J......... * 7-14 2-3 2-2 5 5 10 3 18 0 0 1 0 30
12 Harrow, Ryan........ * 1-5 0-0 1-2 1 2 3 1 3 4 2 0 0 22
15 Wood, Scott......... * 2-5 1-4 0-0 0 1 1 0 5 0 1 1 1 29
23 Smith, Tracy........ * 5-15 0-0 4-5 3 5 8 2 14 1 1 0 0 30
00 Painter, DeShawn.... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 3 2 0 0 0 0 10
01 Howell, Richard..... 2-4 1-1 4-5 6 4 10 1 9 1 2 1 0 16
10 Gonzalez, Javier.... 3-5 0-1 5-6 0 1 1 2 11 3 1 0 1 18
21 Williams, C.J....... 2-3 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 1 4 0 0 0 0 13
TEAM................ 2 5 7 1
Totals.............. 23-59 4-10 19-24 19 27 46 17 69 12 9 4 2 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-31 41.9% 2nd Half: 10-28 35.7% Game: 39.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-7 42.9% 2nd Half: 1-3 33.3% Game: 40.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-3 100 % 2nd Half: 16-21 76.2% Game: 79.2% 1
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Officials: Karl Hess, John Cahill, Ted Valentine
Technical fouls: Clemson-None. NC State-None.
Attendance: 14891
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Clemson....................... 34 27 - 61
NC State...................... 32 37 - 69
Points in the paint-CU 32,ST 24. Points off turnovers-CU 5,ST 4.
2nd chance points-CU 13,ST 19. Fast break points-CU 13,ST 3.
Bench points-CU 16,ST 26. Score tied-3 times. Lead changed-10 times.
Last FG-CU 2nd-00:40, ST 2nd-05:01.
Largest lead-CU by 9 1st-04:06, ST by 8 2nd-04:05.
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