North Carolina State University Athletics
WolfPack Tops No. 15 Maryland, 68-66
1/6/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
.jpg)
By Tony Haynes
Thursday, January 6th will be a day most NC State fans won't soon forget. It started when Chuck Amato was named the school's 32nd head football coach. The Wolfpack basketball team (10-1, 1-0) then capped things off with a thrilling 68-66 victory over Maryland (11-3, 0-1) in the first ever ACC game to be played at the Entertainment and Sports Arena.
Justin Gainey's short jumper with 1.3 seconds remaining proved to be the difference, but the Pack barely dodged a bullet when Terence Morris's 40-foot heave at the horn hit the backboard, spun around the rim and came out.
Thursday night's heroics marked the third time in a year that Gainey has come up big with a dramatic game winning shot.
"I do believe that every shot I shoot is going in," said Gainey, who scored all 14 of his points in the second half. "The thought of me missing the shot didn't even cross my mind."
Earlier this season, Gainey's three-pointer with less than ten seconds to play gave NC State a come-from-behind win at Purdue. Last year, he nailed a three to beat Georgia Tech in Atlanta.
Ironically, Gainey was very close to being the goat. Just moments before the frantic finish, he uncharacteristically missed three consecutive free throws to help Maryland comeback and eventually tie the game on a basket by Danny Miller.
"He was a 90 percent free throw shooter last year and that was uncharacteristic," said Pack coach Herb Sendek. "I kidded him when we were walking over to do a post-game TV interview. I asked him if he intentionally missed the free throws so that he would have an opportunity to hit another game winning shot."
At the very beginning, it didn't appear that NC State would need a last second shot to defeat the 14th ranked Terps. Using the scrappy defensive pressure which has become its trademark, the Wolfpack bolted out to an 18-4 lead in the first eight minutes. Maryland turned the ball over on 11 of its first 16 possessions.
But then the Terps stopped turning the ball over and NC State stopped making shots. A driving layup by star forward Terence Morris capped a 15-0 run to give Maryland a 19-18 lead. Over the final 11-plus minutes of the first half, NC State managed just one field goal. The frigid dry-spell allowed the Terrapins to take a 27-25 lead at halftime.
"We knew Maryland was going to make their run," Sendek said.
Or as Gainey put it: "Maryland's a good team and we didn't expect to blow them out. "When we were up 18-4, we knew they would comeback. They're a great team with great players. I think we did a good job of keeping our composure when they came back."
The first half featured a phenominal windmill dunk by NC State's Damon Thornton. Using a head start, the junior forward launched himself from about ten feet in front of the basket and brought the house down with an incredible highlight jam over Terps seven-footer Mike Mardesich.
"He even gave Mary Lou Retton a run for her money," Sendek said. "He had some dunks that will make Sportscenter. That one in the first half was spectacular. It took me a lot of energy just to calm our guys down during the next time-out."
The second half was classic ACC basketball. There were nine lead changes and one tie. Two Damon Thornton free throws gave the Wolfpack a 64-58 lead with 3:36 remaining. But an 8-2 Maryland run, helped by Gainey's missed free throws, tied the score at 66-66. That set the stage for a memorable ending.
"Hopefully we learned a lot tonight," said Maryland coach Gary Williams, who saw his teams four game winning streak against NC State ended. "For some of the guys, it was their first experience in an atmosphere like this. Certainly it showed in the first eight minutes when we struggled with our offense. I didn't think our defense in the second half was as aggressive. They got some good looks that they didn't get in the last ten minutes of the first half. There were also two or three possessions there where they hurt us with some second and third shots."
NC State continued its excellent offensive rebounding on Thursday night. The Pack scored 22 second chance points off of 22 offensive boards. NC State also had 28 points off of 25 Maryland turnovers.
Thornton led the Pack with 15 points and seven rebounds. Guard Anthony Grundy added 14 points and five steals. Morris, who was picked to win ACC Player of the Year during the pre-season, paced Maryland with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Guard Juan Dixon chipped in with 14 points. Miller and center Lonnie Baxter had 12 apiece.
NC State converted on 26 of 66 shots (39.4 percent). Maryland was 27 of 58 from the field for 46.6 percent.
A near sellout crowd of 19,525 was in attendance.
