It’s a three-peat! NC State beats Miami, 60-47, to win ACC Tournament

They did it again. Hard to fathom, really, that an NC State basketball team has won three consecutive ACC Tournament titles, but here we are. Miami didn’t always make it easy, and the Wolfpack had its problems offensively, but in the end, the best team prevailed.

It was a 10-0 run to end the second quarter that gave NC State control, and the Pack doubled its halftime lead with another strong third-quarter performance. Miami would have needed a perfect fourth quarter to do anything about its 18-point deficit, but the Hurricanes struggles from the field only continued down the stretch.

Elissa Cunane again led the charge for State, scoring 17 points and grabbing eight boards on the way to Tournament Most Outstanding Player honors. Raina Perez scored 12 points, and Diamond Johnson had 11 off the bench.

Miami shot just 40% inside the arc and State was actually worse, but the Pack had a +5 advantage in turnovers and went to the line 18 times to help compensate for the missed shots. State’s defensive effort made sure that the offense the Pack did get would be enough.

NC State is absolutely locked into a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and as a top-four seed will get to play its first two games in Raleigh. We’ll find out who else is coming to Raleigh next Sunday night. Until then, it’s party time.