ACC

Blazing through

No. 10 seed N.C. State topples No. 2 Virginia with late spurt after a key defensive stop.

By BRIAN LANDMAN
Published March 10, 2007

TAMPA - North Carolina State reserve senior guard Bryan Nieman wasn't pleased with his defensive performance during parts of Friday night's game against Virginia and was determined to redeem himself.

Did he ever.

With his team hoping to continue an improbable ACC tournament run and clinging to a two-point lead, he took a charge from sophomore guard Mamadi Diane that negated the tying basket and sparked a final flurry for a 79-71 Wolfpack comeback win at the St. Pete Times Forum.

"I felt like I gave up too many baskets in the first half," he said. "I was very frustrated. ... Being a senior, I didn't want to let the team down."

"He was the X-factor tonight," said N.C. State coach Sidney Lowe, glowing as brightly as his lucky red blazer that he isn't about to pack away. "He had some of the biggest plays of the night."

But Nieman was hardly the lone hero for the 10th-seeded Wolfpack 17-14, which advances to the ACC tournament semifinal for the fifth time in six years against Virginia Tech, which beat Wake Forest 71-52.

Despite foul trouble for their post players and another off-shooting day for ailing senior guard J.R. Reynolds (3-for-15), the No. 2-seeded Cavaliers opened up a 14-point halftime lead and were still up 50-39 with 14:21 left. Suddenly, the Wolfpack looked like the 1983 bunch led by Lowe.

Working the ball inside-out for open shots, the Wolfpack went on a remarkable 21-4 run during the next seven minutes to take the lead. The Cavaliers (20-10) answered and were down by just a basket in the final minutes when Nieman, who had a couple of 3-pointers in the half also, stepped up big defensively.

"I was supposed to be guarding Reynolds and I lost him, and I just happened to be under the basket and I was in the right place at the right time," he said. "It made up for (the first half) a little bit."

Junior swingman Gavin Grant then scored his team's next nine points for a 77-68 lead. He finished with 20 (16 in the second half on 5-for-5 shooting from the field and 4-for-5 from the line).

"It was all in the offense; it wasn't designed for me," he said.

"It was designed for anybody who was open. It could have been anyone else."

Yes, but it wasn't.

"It was huge when you get on a run like that," Lowe said. "I think you saw his confidence was building every time he touched the basketball. What he was saying was he got it out of the offense. In the first half, he was rushing a little, trying to create too much. In the second half during that time, he allowed it to come to him. ... He still had to put it in the hole, and he did."

N.C. State, which had lost to Virginia in both previous meetings this year, seems assured of at least an NIT bid but is shooting for the kind of run that Lowe had in '83 with legendary coach Jim Valvano.

One that carried the Wolfpack to the league title and the NCAA title.

"I thought we got thoroughly outplayed in the second half," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said. "They continued to shoot the ball well, but the reason they shot the ball well was because we stopped defending. We stopped doing the things we had been doing in the first half. "When we started to give up the lead, what you need is a response. We just took our medicine and never responded."

Brian Landman can be reached at landman@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3347.

FG FT Reb

N.C. STATE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts

Grant 33 7-11 4-5 1-4 4 4 20

Costner 37 6-13 7-9 1-6 3 3 22

McCauley 38 5-8 2-5 0-6 6 2 12

Fells 27 3-7 3-3 1-4 1 4 9

Atsur 37 2-5 5-5 1-5 3 1 10

Nieman 21 2-2 0-0 1-3 0 3 6

Horner 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Clark 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Totals 200 25-47 21-27 6-33 17 17 79

Percentages: FG .532, FT .778. 3-Point Goals: 8-19, .421 (Costner 3-7, Nieman 2-2, Grant 2-3, Atsur 1-4, Fells 0-3). Team Rebounds: 5. Blocked Shots: 1 (McCauley). Turnovers: 14 (Grant 5, McCauley 5, Atsur 2, Costner 2). Steals: 2 (Nieman, McCauley). Technical Fouls: None.

FG FT Reb

VIRGINIA Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts

Diane 33 4-10 0-0 0-3 1 4 10

Cain 18 3-4 0-0 1-4 1 5 6

Soroye 12 0-0 0-0 0-3 1 3 0

Reynolds 31 3-15 4-4 1-1 4 3 11

Singletary 34 6-16 10-12 3-5 3 4 23

Harris 13 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 2 0

Mikalauskas 19 3-4 1-2 0-2 0 0 7

Tucker 11 1-2 0-0 1-3 0 1 3

Joseph 18 3-5 0-0 0-0 1 0 7

Pettinella 7 2-2 0-0 0-1 0 2 4

Tat 4 0-1 0-0 1-3 1 0 0

Totals 200 25-62 15-18 12-32 12 24 71

Percentages: FG .403, FT .833. 3-Point Goals: 6-21, .286 (Diane 2-5, Joseph 1-1, Tucker 1-2, Reynolds 1-5, Singletary 1-6, Harris 0-1, Tat 0-1). Team Rebounds: 7. Blocked Shots: 2 (Cain, Soroye). Turnovers: 11 (Singletary 4, Cain 2, Reynolds, Diane, Tucker, Soroye, Joseph). Steals: 2 (Cain, Singletary). Technical Fouls: None.

N.C. State 26 53 - 79

Virginia 40 31 - 71

A-22,269. Officials-Jamie Luckie, Mike Eades, Gary Maxwell.

N.C. State 79

Virginia 71

Virginia XX

N.C. State XX

[Last modified March 10, 2007, 06:02:27]