Cavaliers Fall To NC State, 92-72, In ACC Tournament
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March 8, 2002
By DAVID DROSCHAK
AP Sports Writer
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – If Virginia doesn’t make the NCAA tournament it canlook no further than its games against North Carolina State for the reason.
Anthony Grundy scored a career-high 32 points as the Wolfpack beat theCavaliers 92-72 in the Atlantic Coast Conference quarterfinals Friday and sweptthe three meetings between the teams this season.
The Wolfpack (21-9) had its best outside shooting game of the season and oneof the best long-range displays in ACC tournament history, making its firsteight 3-pointers of the second half and 13-of-18 overall.
Archie Miller had 16 points – all in the second half – and Ilian Evtimovadded 15 as the Wolfpack shot 60 percent and set its ACC tournament record for3-pointers in a game. N.C. State had 12 two previous times.
Fifth-seeded Virginia (17-11) hasn’t won an ACC postseason game since 1995,dropping its seventh straight as coach Pete Gillen fell to 0-4.
N.C. State, the fourth seed, advanced to play top-seeded Maryland in thesemifinals. The Terrapins beat Florida State 85-59 earlier in the day.
While Grundy was N.C. State’s best overall player again, it was the shootingof Miller and Evtimov that pushed the Wolfpack over the top in the second half.
Miller made three straight 3-pointers in the opening 3:59, while Evtimovmade three over a 6{-minute span.
Then Grundy’s shot behind the arc with 6:44 left gave N.C. State a 73-60advantage and forced yet another timeout from Gillen, who used severalstoppages to try to cool off the Wolfpack.
The Cavaliers started 9-0 and were ranked as high as fourth on Dec. 31, buta home loss to the Wolfpack in their ACC opener started a slide that coveredthe final 2{ months of the regular season.
Virginia also lost to N.C. State 85-68 a month ago in Raleigh and afterstarting 14-2, went 3-9 down the stretch to make its NCAA situation tenuous.
Roger Mason Jr. led the Cavaliers with 24 points, but Virginia had to play acrucial portion of the second half without Travis Watson, who led the ACC with 16double-doubles.
Watson went to the bench with his fourth foul with 16:48 left and Virginiadown by six. He returned seven minutes later and his team trailed by 11. Hethen turned it over twice to help N.C. State build a 13-point cushion.
Grundy, who was 11-for-16 from the field, and the Wolfpack started slowlywith the senior missing his first two shots and N.C. State falling into a quickseven-point hole.
But Grundy got hot later in the half after 11 lead changes, making sevenstraight shots. He scored nine points over the final 7:01 as the Wolfpackgrabbed a 42-35 lead at the break.