ACC TOURNAMENT
N.C. State Continues Its Magic
Published: Mar 11, 2007
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TAMPA - The NCAA Tournament may still be a week away, but there's a Cinderella story developing in the ACC Tournament.
On what would have been the 61st birthday of former coach Jim Valvano, 10th-seeded North Carolina State pulled off its third consecutive upset, knocking off third-seeded Virginia Tech 72-64 Saturday.
"Special things happen on special days," said N.C. State administrative coordinator Justin Gainey, who played on N.C. State's 1997 team, the only other ACC club to win three games to reach the ACC final.
"Hopefully we'll keep it going. Hopefully the ending will be a lot different [a loss to North Carolina] than when I played."
The Wolfpack (17-14) meet hated rival and No. 1 seed North Carolina (27-6) in today's ACC final. While UNC is assured an NCAA Tournament berth, the Wolfpack need another upset to crash the Big Dance.
"We know we have a lot more to give, a lot more to prove," forward Brandon Costner said.
Against Virginia Tech (21-11), the Wolfpack controlled most of the contest and led 46-39 midway through the second half before the Hokies pulled even at 48 with seven minutes remaining.
However, N.C. State took advantage of Tech's poor free-throw shooting and used a 10-2 run for a 58-50 advantage with 2:55 remaining.
After a Virginia Tech basket, Courtney Fells hit a 3-pointer for a 61-52 lead and the Wolfpack hit 12 of their final 14 free throws to seal the win.
"We were just trying to get a good shot, trying to get a good look at it," N.C. State coach Sidney Lowe said. "This group has been very good at coming out of timeouts and really executing and getting the shot that we want.
"They did it again. We made the right read, the right pass and we were fortunate [Fells] knocked it down."
The Hokies, who hit 67 percent of their free throws this season, missed 10 of their first 15 free throws against N.C. State.
They finished 8-for-19 (42.1 percent) at the line, obviously a cruel irony for Tech coach Seth Greenberg, whose teams at the University of South Florida were historically haunted by poor free-throw shooting.
"To not be able to step up to the line and make a free throw is like a turnover," Greenberg said. "Obviously it set us back a tad."
Despite the setback, Greenberg is headed to his first NCAA Tournament since he was at Long Beach State in 1995. The Hokies are a lock for their first NCAA berth since 1996.
"When the sun comes up [today], it will be a very good day for Virginia Tech," Greenberg said. "We're going to watch our name come up on that [TV] screen.
"That's a hell of an accomplishment for a group of guys no one thought could play in the ACC, the Big East or anywhere else. That's a hell of a statement for our program, in four short years, to go from the worst program in the Big East to the NCAA Tournament."
N.C. State's Gavin Grant hit all 11 free throws and led the Wolfpack with 20 points. Fells added 16 points and Costner had 10 points for the Wolfpack, who won despite getting no offensive rebounds.
Reporter Brett McMurphy can be reached at (813) 259-7928 or bmcmurphy@tampatrib.com.
