Miami senior guard Durand Scott won the ACC Defensive Player of the Year Award this past week, but the Wolfpack will most likely remember him for his offense. 

N.C. State saw its ACC tournament title hopes end Saturday with an 81-71 defeat to regular season champion Miami at the Greensboro Coliseum. The Pack fell to 24-10 on the season and will await its postseason fate on Sunday when the NCAA tournament pairings are announced. 

Scott torched the Wolfpack for a career-high 32 points on 12-of-18 shooting from the floor, 5-for-8 from three-point range, before fouling out with less than two minutes to play. 

Sophomore guard, and All-ACC first teamer Shane Larkin added 23 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steal for the Hurricanes (26-6) and Miami will face the winner of the second semifinal between Maryland and North Carolina on Sunday. 

N.C. State was led by senior guard Scott Wood, who tallied 21 points and five rebounds. Wood hit six-of-10 three-pointers for the game.

Junior forward C.J. Leslie and freshman forward T.J. Warren also scored in double figures, with 14 and 13 respectively.  

State never led in the contest. 

The Canes got out to a 5-0 lead in the first five minutes as both teams were sluggish offensively. Leslie picked up his second foul with 14:06 in the first half and was forced to spend a significant portion of the remainder of the opening frame on the bench. 

Due to Leslie’s absence, and the hot shooting of Scott, the Canes extended the margin to 19 points with 1:18 in the opening half. 

Wood hit two three-pointers and State ramped up its defense to cut the deficit to 12 at the half.

The Pack got its closest when it trimmed Miami’s to six at 50-44 with 12:05 to play. 

Scott then hit his forth three-pointer of the game after a media timeout. The Canes extended the lead during the next seven minutes back to 16 points and were never seriously threatened again.