Wheeeeew. Whew. I about near died, but I’m fine now. Markell Johnson gave NC State the lead and the win with a pair of free throws with 2.6 seconds remaining in regulation, in the process, we hope, sealing the Wolfpack’s spot in the NCAA tournament.
State is lucky as hell to be on the winning side, not the least because Johnson wasn’t really fouled on that last driving attempt. (Heh.) The Pack played terrible basketball for a significant chunk of the game and found itself down by 16 at the break. I’m not surprised the guys found a way to rally, though I am in a bit of shock that the game turned out the way it did.
I’m not here to complain about how wins get accomplished this time of year, especially in this case, where a loss might meant a trip to the NIT. Now that’s Clemson’s problem.
The Tigers shot it lights out in the first half, canning eight of 13 three-point tries, but made only one of 10 threes in the second half, as fortunes reversed.
It wasn’t pretty, but Markell had a bacon-saving performance and, hey, we did enough. On to UVA!