News / Sports
N.C. State Wolfpack Shock Duke Blue Devils in Overtime to Advance in ACC Tournament
After putting together a less than impressive 5-11 record in the ACC the North Carolina State Wolfpack (16-4) closed a dismal chapter on their regular season and began to write what they hope is a Cinderella story, beginning with their 85-80 overtime victory over the Duke Blue Devils (22-10).
The Wolfpack relied heavily on their youngest cub, freshman Brandon Costner, who poured in 30 points and grabbed 7 rebounds and their elder statesman, senior guard Engin Atsur, who scored 21 points to gain the upset.
It looked as if the Blue Devils would put the Wolfpack away in the closing minutes of the first half. Duke used an 11-0 run to grab a 31-23 lead but N.C. State wouldn’t roll over and finished the half trailing 39-34.
The two teams were even throughout the second half as Duke would build a lead only to see N.C. State chop it down Duke then went scoreless for a little over two minutes late in the game and the Wolfpack were able to establish their own four-point lead.
With the game tied at 70-70 and just under a minute remaining neither team could find the basket, the Wolfpack had several open looks in the final 10 seconds but couldn’t convert.
Duke suffered from another cold spell in overtime where they couldn’t score for near two minutes allowing the Wolfpack to built a four point lead which they never allowed the Blue Devils to overcome.
