North Carolina State University Athletics
Duke Grabs 87-86 Win in Final Moments
3/1/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. Duke’s DeMarcus Nelson hit a pair of free throws with 1:01 remaining to give his team its only lead of the second half, and the Blue Devils held on for two possessions for a hard-fought 87-86 victory over NC State Saturday afternoon at the RBC Center.
Up by eight with five minutes to play, the Wolfpack lost its scoring touch over the next three and a half minutes, allowing the Blue Devils to tie the game at 85 with 1:30 to play on a Greg Paulus 3-pointer from the wing. State’s scored its last field goal with 3:23 to play, and had trouble converting its free throws down the stretch.
After making 22 of its first 23 free throws, the Pack missed three of its next six, putting the seventh-ranked Blue Devils (25-3 overall, 12-2 ACC) in position to sneak away with the victory. It was the seventh straight loss for the Wolfpack and Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski's 800th career victory.
Junior Ben McCauley scored a team-high 19 points for the Wolfpack, while freshman Javi Gonzalez had a career high 18. Freshman Tracy Smith added 14.
“Everyone played well,” McCauley said of his team’s effort. “A few things didn’t go our way, but you have to get some confidence about this. It’s late in the season and we played well. This is the way we have to play in the ACC Tournament.
“If we want to make any kind of run in the post-season, we have to play well there.”
For head coach Sidney Lowe, the game was a validation of what he’s known about his team all along it has the potential to play with any team in the ACC or the country.
“I told our kids after the game that we played hard, we played well and we played with a lot of passion,” Lowe said. “We have been saying this all year, that when we come out and play like that, we can play with anyone.
“It’s frustrating that we lost the game, but it’s always rewarding to know that if we do make those shots we can play with anyone. This is not a moral victory or anything like that, but there are a lot of positives to build on.
The Wolfpack made 54 percent of its shots on the day, out-rebounded the Blue Devils 37-27 and held Krzyzewski’s team to just 38.6 percent shooting from the field all encouraging signs from a team that had not performed well in recent games.
Duke was led by 19 points each from Nelson -- including seven in the final two minutes and sophomore Jon Scheyer.
The game seemed to turn on an emotional series of events with about seven minutes to play. That’s when Lance Thomas took the ball away from Gonzalez at midcourt and raced down the floor for a dunk. He was fouled from behind by Brandon Costner, which was deemed an intentional foul by the officials.
Thomas missed the two free throws, but Nelson buried a 3-pointer from the corner to cut the lead to 75-73.
Inflamed, the Wolfpack (15-14, 4-11)scored the next six points to take an 81-73 lead with 5:01 to play, but could not stop Duke's final surge, which included making five of six free throws and three 3-pointers.
Early in the second half, the Blue Devils closed within one point at 49-48 on a steal and dunk by freshman Kyle Singler. But the Wolfpack answered with four consecutive free throws, then back-to-back 3-pointers by sophomore Trevor Ferguson and freshman Javi Gonzalez.
After Singler missed a 3-pointer, Ferguson tipped in a missed outside shot by Gavin Grant, then Gonzalez hit another 3-pointer on a pass in transition from Grant to give the Pack a 66-55 lead.
The Devils missed two more shots against aggressive defense, and McCauley hit consecutive baskets to give the Pack its biggest lead of the day at 70-57. Duke got within seven points on three free throws by Taylor King with 10:22 to play.
The Wolfpack’s defense forced Duke to hit just 35.5 percent of its shots in the first half, as Lowe’s team played aggressively from the outset. Even with both Gonzalez and Marques Johnson collecting two fouls early in the game, the Pack was able to beat the Duke press and scored early and often.
The Pack made 60 percent of its shots from the field (15-for-25) and all 13 of its free throw attempts in building its lead up to eight points with 3:37 to play. While Duke stayed close by hitting six of its 11 3-pointers, Gonzalez hit a pair of long-range shots and State made four of its six shots behind the arc to effectively answer the Blue Devils’ shooting.
State owned a 47-44 lead at the half, and Duke quickly cut it to one. The Wolfpack outscored the Devils 21-9 over the next seven minutes to build its 13-point lead.
The Wolfpack has a week off before finishing the regular season next Saturday at
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
