With wintry weather abounding in much of the Southeast on Saturday night, N.C. State (12-5, 1-2 ACC) proved to be immune to the cold, playing fired up in its 79-77 win over No. 21 Miami (14-3, 1-2 ACC).
With just 2.1 seconds left in overtime, senior forward Gavin Grant scored the game-winning basket following an inbounds steal from the Hurricanes’ Anthony King, just seconds after a putback by J.J. Hickson tied the game.
“I thought for a minute I had an orange jersey on,” Grant said. “I was going to guard McClinton when he threw it right to me. I was like ‘thank you’ and went straight up to the hoop.”
The play capped a dramatic 7-1 Wolfpack run in the final 18 seconds of overtime. With the Pack failing to make any field goals in the first four minutes after regulation, junior guard Courtney Fells knocked down a three-pointer with 17.7 seconds remaining to bring the team within one at 76-75.
“Courtney’s shot was just as important as that last basket,” Grant said. “Had he not made that, we wouldn’t have been in a position to win.”
Thanks in part to 61-percent shooting from beyond the three-point arc, State won’t have to deal with a 0-3 ACC start.
“We came out with a lot more intensity, played a lot harder than normal and brought a lot more energy to the game,” redshirt sophomore forward Brandon Costner said. “It’s tough to start your first two ACC games on the road.”
Costner scored 16 points on the night and was 4-for-4 from three-point range — a big improvement from the Pack’s losses to UNC and Clemson, in which he mustered a combined four points.
“We need Brandon to knock down those open shots, and he did tonight,” coach Sidney Lowe said. “We count on him. Obviously he’s in there quite a bit. He’s going to get some of those looks. Thank God he knocked them down today. We certainly needed it.”
In the first half, Miami jumped to an early 5-0 lead before Costner was able to knock down two free throws. After being tied at 5-5, State took the lead and wouldn’t look back for the rest of the half. With 3:20 left in the half, State had its largest lead of the half at 35-23.
“Our guys came out with good energy,” Lowe said. “In the locker room we could sense that we were ready to play tonight.”
The emotional tensions were rattled early in the second half after Miami’s Dwayne Collins committed a solid foul on freshman forward Tracy Smith.
“There were a lot of emotions flying in there. We knew they played physical, and I told our guys that the most physical team wins the game,” Lowe said. “That’s the way you have to be in this conference.”
Junior forward Ben McCauley, who was listed as questionable for the game after an ankle injury in the game against Clemson, came in for 17 minutes of the game — five of which were during overtime.
“We felt that Ben would help us a little more in the post defensively, on the boards and obviously on the offensive end,” Lowe said. “He knows how to execute, and we know we can go to him in the post.”
Miami guard Jack McClinton almost single-handedly brought Miami to victory, scoring 20 of his 26 points on 8-for-10 shooting in the second half.
“I thought it was a hard-fought game, a tough game,” Miami coach Frank Haith said. “Our kids really played their hearts out in the second half.”
After some early-season losses, questions have surfaced regarding the team’s unity. But freshman center J.J. Hickson said Saturday’s win helped overcome such struggles.
“We had to step it up and play hard today,” Hickson said. “We were tired of losing as a team. We had to find the recipe. I think we’ve found it.”
By the Numbers 0 three-pointers scored by Miami in the first half 7 points scored by N.C. State in overtime 16 points scored by Brandon Costner 17.7 seconds left in the game when State scored its first points in overtime 61.1 three-point field goal percentage in the game for State 12,400 attendance at the game Source: N.C. State Athletics
Sights & Sounds Happy Birthday to you Fans sang “Happy Birthday” to freshman forward Tracy Smith, whose birthday was this past weekend. Also celebrating a birthday was redshirt sophomore guard Trevor Ferguson. Two girls were shown holding a sign on the jumbotron, saying happy birthday to Ferguson.
Toys for tots Football coach Tom O’Brien helped present a check of $14,800 to the United States Marine Toys for Tots campaign during a timeout. O’Brien, a member of the national board for Toys for Tots and a U.S. Marine, along with Coca-Cola helped with the program.
-Fidelis Lusompa
