Henry Lancaster III
Down 62-59 with less than three minutes left against Virginia on Wednesday night at the RBC Center, N.C. State scored seven consecutive points on the way to an eventual 66-64 victory.
Junior guard Engin Atsur said the Cavaliers’ previous run to take a late lead made for a great finish.
“They had a great run at the end, but we found a way to win the game,” Atsur said. “And all the ACC games come to the last second, last minute, so I’m proud of my teammates.”
It all started on a three-pointer from the corner by redshirt senior forward Ilian Evtimov with 2:08 left, tying the game 62-62 and sending the partisan crowd into a frenzy.
Despite some of his plays earlier, which he was not happy with, Evtimov said he had plenty of confidence taking the shot.
“I didn’t think about it twice,” Evtimov said.
On the ensuing possession, Atsur stole the ball from the Cavaliers with 1:38 remaining, and Evtimov called a timeout.
With 1:10 left, senior guard Cameron Bennerman posted up inside and missed a short shot, but he gathered the rebound and scored on a putback for a 64-62 lead.
After Virginia junior guard J.R. Reynolds missed a three-pointer and Wolfpack sophomore center Cedric Simmons pulled down the rebound, State set up its offense.
Evtimov spotted Atsur under the basket and passed to him for a layup and a 66-62 lead with 38 seconds showing on the clock.
“We ran our offense and then found a great shot,” Atsur said.
Cavaliers sophomore forward Adrian Joseph scored off a rebound with 3.6 seconds left to cut his team’s deficit to 66-64.
After being fouled by Virginia, Atsur missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw attempt.
Cavaliers sophomore guard Sean Singletary then dribbled down the court before missing a long three-point attempt as time expired on State’s 66-64 victory.
That ending proved much different than the beginning for the Pack.
State got off to a crowd-pleasing start Wednesday night, jumping to a 14-2 lead against Virginia just after the first TV timeout of the game.
The game-starting run was highlighted by a thunderous dunk by sophomore forward Andrew Brackman on a pass from senior guard Tony Bethel to make it a 12-2 game in the Pack’s favor.
The Cavaliers finished the first half by scoring the final six points of the half — highlighted by an emphatic fastbreak dunk by forward Mamadi Diane — to cut their deficit to 29-26 at the half and set up the back-and-forth second half.
Despite the victory, State allowed Virginia 12 offensive rebounds, an area Simmons said led to frustration.
“It’s real tough. You’re playing hard, and you get a stop for 35 seconds,” Simmons said. “Then you [have to] guard for another 35 seconds.”
Senior guard Tony Bethel tied Singletary with a game-high 16 points, including shooting four-for-five behind the three-point arc.
Bethel added seven rebounds and five assists compared with one turnover.
He said Sunday’s 94-85 double-overtime victory at Clemson has given the Pack more confidence in late-game situations.
“It gives us more confidence knowing that we can pull a game out like that in somebody else’s gym, a close game, a double-overtime game, guys hitting big shots,” Bethel said.
The win gave State a 6-2 start in ACC play for the second time in three seasons.
A 6-2 start in 2004 turned into an 11-5 second-place finish.
The Pack is now alone in second place in the ACC this season with eight conference games remaining.
“This kind of separates us a little bit from the pack,” Bethel said.
As for working within the system, Evtimov said the team is coming together well at a good time.
“Right now we’re starting to click,” Evtimov said.
After leaving for a few minutes early in the game for a hip pointer, Evtimov was still hurting after the game.
That was hardly what mattered most for him after the victory.
“I probably won’t be able to sleep tonight, but it doesn’t matter,” Evtimov said. “We won.”