N.C. State topples Florida State

By: BY NATHAN WARTERS | Lynchburg News and Advance
Published: March 13, 2010

GREENSBORO, N.C. – It was a day for the underdogs at Greensboro Coliseum.

N.C. State became the third lower seed to win in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament on Friday by beating No. 3 seed Florida State 58-52.

The Wolfpack (19-14) blitzed the Seminoles with its 3-point shooting to become the first 11 seed to advance to the tournament semifinals. It takes on Georgia Tech today at 4 p.m. with a spot in Sunday’s championship game on the line.

N.C. State forward Scott Wood scored a game-high 18 points. He made 6 of 10 3-point attempts in helping the Wolfpack advance to the semifinals for the second time in Sidney Lowe’s four-year coaching tenure.

Wood, a 6-foot-7 freshman from Indiana, nearly matched his career high for made 3-pointers. He had seven at Florida State on Jan. 12, when he scored 31 points in a 88-81 win.

N.C. State went 7 of 15 from 3-point range for the game.

Two other lower seeds, No. 12 Miami over No. 4 Virginia Tech and No. 7 Georgia Tech over No. 3 Maryland, won their quarterfinal games as well, and top-seeded Duke struggled to put away Virginia in the first game of the day.

N.C. State used an 18-4 run early in the second half to pull away from FSU (22-9). Wood and Farnold Degand hit back to back 3s, then guard Javier Gonzalez (13 points, five rebounds, six assists, five steals) scored seven of the Wolfpack’s next nine points on an assortment of running jumpers and hook shots.

Florida State slowed the run on Xavier Gibson’s jumper to make it 40-35, but Wood struck with a couple of 3-pointers to push N.C. State’s advantage to 46-37.

FSU wing Deividas Dulkys (Liberty Christian Academy, Lynchburg Hoops AAU) kept it close with a couple of well-timed 3s. His first long-range shot cut N.C. State’s lead to 46-41 with 12:30 left, and the second made it 51-46 at the 7:35 mark.

Dulkys finished with six points and three rebounds.

Florida State led 28-25 at the half. The Seminoles shot 45.5 percent before the break, but the Wolfpack made three 3-point field goals to stick around.

The Nos. 11 and 12 seeds advanced to the semifinals for the first time in ACC tournament history.