North Carolina State thwarted second-seeded Duke’s pursuit of back-to-back ACC event championships with a 74-69 quarterfinal win Thursday in Washington D.C.
It was the primary recreation of the event for the No. 11 Blue Devils as a result of a double-bye on account of their high seeding within the convention. They hadn’t misplaced a convention event opener since 2013, and the early exit will not bode properly for the staff’s seeding within the NCAA event.
The Blue Devils missed their first 9 field-goal makes an attempt of the sport, which was an early indicator of offensive struggles to come back. Duke sophomore Kyle Filipowski left the competition with 28 factors and 14 rebounds. He led a 9-0 run within the first half however he was impacted by NC State middle D.J. Burns Jr.’s protection within the second.
The Wolfpack got here out robust, sustaining their momentum within the event from defeating Louisville on Tuesday earlier than finishing an upset win over No. 7 seed Syracuse on Wednesday. They’ve now received three consecutive video games within the three days, a full turnaround from their earlier four-game dropping streak.
NC State’s 5-of-11 taking pictures from the 3-point line helped the staff set up a 35-32 lead as they entered halftime.
Beginning guard DJ Horne, who’s coming back from harm, got here off the bench to attain 12 factors within the first half for NC State. His scoring within the first half included a buzzer-beater to finish the interval. He added six extra factors earlier than the sport ended.
Duke by no means secured a lead within the second half. However It virtually regarded just like the Blue Devils had been set to learn from an all-time collapse with 32 seconds left, as this missed dunk by Ben Middlebrook highlighted a sequence of late errors from NC State:
Filipowski capitalized on two missed free throws from Mohamed Diarra with 21 seconds left, notching a defensive rebound and a subsequent layup to deliver the Blue Devils inside two factors at 71-69. The Duke massive man fouled out within the closing 15 seconds and despatched Horne to the free throw line.
Horne made each of his makes an attempt to deliver the staff up 73-69. Diarra was the subsequent NC State participant fouled, and he went 1-for-1 to finish the sport.
Subsequent, the Wolfpack will face the winner of Thursday evening’s quarterfinal between Virginia and Boston Faculty.