ACC Weekend Hoops: Wolfpack edges Miami, FSU moves to 5-1 in league play

ACC Men

Keeping With Tradition, Pack Wins Thriller Over Miami: On a day devoted to remembering NC State's rich basketball tradition, the current Wolfpack team paid its respects with a thrilling 72-70 victory Sunday afternoon at the RBC Center in Raleigh.

After leading by as many as 17 points in the second half, the Wolfpack allowed Miami to take a one-point lead in the final minute, but held on for the victory, thanks to a put-back basket by Tracy Smith and a free throw by first-time starter C.J. Williams.

Durand Scott gave the Hurricanes their first lead of the second half with one minute to play on an inside jumper, but Smith grabbed it right back for the Wolfpack (12-7 overall, 2-3 ACC) when he rebounded Harrow's miss and put it back up for a 71-70 advantage.

Miami called time out with 37.1 seconds to play, but Williams stripped the ball out of Reggie Johnson's hands and grabbed the loose ball. Williams was fouled and made one of his two free throws for a 72-70 lead at the 15.9 mark.

Miami (12-7, 1-4) tried to set up for a final shot, but State's smothering defense prevented the Hurricanes from getting off a shot.

Farrakhan Leads Virginia Past Georgia Tech: Senior guard Mustapha Farrakhan scored a game-high 23 points and freshman guard KT Harrell scored 17 points to lead Virginia to a 72-64 victory over Georgia Tech in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at John Paul Jones Arena on Saturday (Jan. 22).

The 23 points are Farrakhan’s career high in an ACC game and he tied his overall career high with five assists.

The victory broke a three-game losing streak for the Cavaliers and improved their overall record to 11-8. UVa is 2-3 in the ACC. The loss snapped Georgia Tech’s two-game winning streak and dropped the Yellow Jackets’ overall record to 9-9. Georgia Tech is 2-3 in the ACC.

Virginia has won four of its last five games against Georgia Tech.

Freshman guard Joe Harris scored 11 points, had a team-high eight rebounds and two assists for Virginia.

Junior guard Iman Shumpert scored 19 points, had a game-high nine rebounds and four assists to lead Georgia Tech. Sophomore forward Brian Oliver added 13 points and freshman center Daniel Miller scored 12 points and had six rebounds for the Yellow Jackets.

Duke Tames Wake Forest 83-59: Kyle Singler scored 24 points and keyed the run that helped No. 4 Duke pull away from pesky Wake Forest in an 83-59 victory Saturday. Ryan Kelly added a career-high 20 points on perfect shooting and Nolan Smith shook off a slow start and finished with 19 on 6-of-22 shooting for the Blue Devils (18-1, 5-1 Atlantic Coast Conference).

The league's highest-ranked team took care of its worst down the stretch, using two big runs to outscore Wake Forest 42-27 in the second half. Duke won its fourth straight and claimed its second victory of the week on an instate rival's home floor.

Travis McKie scored 12 points for the Demon Deacons (7-13, 0-5). They had separate droughts of 9 1/2 minutes without a field goal and 7 minutes without any points, and lost their fifth straight and 10th in 12 games.

C.J. Harris pulled Wake Forest to 44-40 with a 3-pointer with 17 1/2 minutes left. Singler took over after that, reeling off nine consecutive points for Duke to start the 17-4 run that pushed the lead into double figures to stay.

Mason Plumlee finished with 10 rebounds, his fourth straight game in double figures in that statistic. Kelly was 6 of 6 from the field, 4 for 4 from the free throw line and hit four 3s for Duke, which beat North Carolina State by 14 three nights earlier in Raleigh.

Harris and Gary Clark added 11 points apiece for the Demon Deacons.

Florida State Turns Back Boston College, 67-51: Derwin Kitchen's 16 points led a balanced Florida State scoring attack as the Seminoles blew open a close game in the second half and defeated Boston College 67-51 Saturday night.

Four players finished in double figures for the Seminoles (15-5, 5-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), who share the league lead with fourth-ranked Duke (18-1, 5-1).

Joe Trapani's 19 points led Boston College (14-6, 4-2), which was held to its lowest scoring total of the season.

BC's Reggie Jackson, the ACC's second leading scorer, was scoreless until the final second of the half when sank three free throws after being fouled on a 3-point attempt. The free throws pulled the Eagles to within 29-27 at the break. He finished with 13 points.

Michael Snaer scored 13 points, Bernard James 12 and freshman Okaro White 11 for Florida State.

Virginia Tech Downs Longwood, 70-52: Malcolm Delaney scored 23 points to lift the Virginia Tech Hokies past Longwood 70-52 in a non-conference game at Cassell Coliseum on Saturday night.

The win marked the Hokies’ ninth in their past 10 games and moved them to 13-5 overall on the season. Longwood fell to 7-15.

The Hokies (13-5) trailed for most of the first 10 minutes, but they closed the first half with a 19-4 run, erasing a five-point deficit to take a 29-19 lead at halftime. The Lancers missed 10 of their final 11 attempts from the floor in the first half.

Delaney led Virginia Tech, connecting on just 6 of 14 from the floor, but hitting 10 of 12 from the free-throw line. He needs just 42 points to eclipse the 2,000-point mark for his career.

Erick Green added 14 points and five assists for Virginia Tech, who shot 44.6 percent from the floor (25 of 56). Jeff Allen scored just six points, but grabbed 10 rebounds, as the Hokies out-rebounded Longwood 36-29.

ACC Women

Unbeaten, No. 3 Duke Rallies Past N.C. State, 65-64: Freshman Chelsea Gray hit a driving layup with 12 seconds left to help No. 3 Duke rally from a 20-point deficit to beat rival N.C. State 65-64 on Sunday.

Jasmine Thomas scored 14 points to lead the Blue Devils (19-0, 5-0 Atlantic Coast Conference), who had to fight to the final horn to remain the nation’s last unbeaten team. Duke trailed by 18 at halftime and 42-22 a minute into the second half before turning up its defensive fullcourt pressure to finally get back in the game.

Gray’s driving layup against Amber White gave the Blue Devils the lead for good, though the Wolfpack had two good looks at the end to steal back the win. First, Marissa Kastanek missed a straightaway 3-pointer, then Bonae Holston hit the front of the rim on a midrange stickback attempt.

Krystal Thomas came down with the rebound just before the horn sounded to give the Blue Devils a thrilling victory.

Thomas and Gray each finished with 13 points for Duke, which overcame a horrendous start and a frustrating day at the free-throw line (12 for 23) by shooting 56 percent after the break. The Blue Devils also forced the Wolfpack (9-10, 1-4) into 14 second-half turnovers, which helped Duke inch its way closer as the final 8 1/2 minutes wore on.

Kastanek and Kody Burke each had 14 points to lead N.C. State, which shot 52 percent in the first half but just 32 percent (8 for 25) after halftime to watch what would have been a huge win for second-year coach Kellie Harper slip painfully away.

Georgia Tech Bounces Back To Beat BC: Coach MaChelle Joseph called it "bounce-back-ability".

Whatever she calls it, it worked as Georgia Tech responded from a difficult loss at Duke on Friday with a resounding 67-54 win over Boston College on Sunday afternoon at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. With the win, the Jackets improve to 17-5 overall and 5-1 in the ACC, while BC drops to 15-5 and 2-3 in league play.

Possibly no Jacket showed more resiliency than senior Alex Montgomery, who tallied only two points on a pair of free throws against the Blue Devils. The Tacoma, Wash., native responded with her seventh double-double of the year and first since Jan. 2 against Jacksonville State with 15 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

Junior point guard Metra Walthour notched her sixth double-figure scoring game with a team-best 16 points. It is the third time since ACC play started Walthour has finished in double-digits. Classmate Mo Bennett came off the bench to tie her season-high of 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

Regins finished the game with nine points and four rebounds, while Adams added five tallies, two assists and two steals for Tech. For the game, the Jacket bench outscored BC's reserves 24-5.

After a poor shooting night at Duke, Tech struggled again in the first half, shooting only 31.4 percent in the opening frame. But again Tech showed that "bounce-back-ability" Joseph talked about, in converting 57.1 percent its of field goal attempts in the second half.

No. 15 Terps Rout No. 10 Tar Heels: Maryland's young women's basketball team appears to have finally grown up.

Alyssa Thomas had 16 points and 13 rebounds, and the 15th-ranked Terrapins had four other players score in double figures Sunday in an 88-65 victory over No. 10 North Carolina. It was Thomas' fourth double in her first five ACC games.

Coach Brenda Frese knew it would take a while for a team with six freshmen and not a single senior to play at its best. Judging by Maryland's performance against the Tar Heels, that time is now.

"You could see our confidence this game at an all-time high," Frese said. "You're starting to see a team coming together. ... This is a great opportunity for us to gain momentum with what we're doing."

Diandra Tchatchouang scored 13, Lynetta Kizer and Alicia DeVaughn each had 12, and Laurin Mincy added 10 points for the Terrapins (16-3, 3-2 Atlantic Coast Conference).

"It just feels great that everyone contributed. We battled together for 40 minutes," Kizer said. "It's a confidence builder going into the rest of ACC play, because we know we set the bar high tonight."

Maryland committed 28 turnovers but shot 48 percent from the floor and finished with a 55-32 rebounding advantage. The Terps also went 23 for 25 at the foul line.

It was Maryland's largest margin of victory against North Carolina since an 88-64 rout on Feb. 6, 1990.

Italee Lucas scored 17 for the Tar Heels (17-3, 3-2). After opening the season with 14 straight wins, North Carolina has since gone 3-3.

Virginia Rolls Past Virginia Tech, 72-37: The Virginia women's basketball team defeated in-state and Atlantic Coast Conference rival Virginia Tech, 72-37, Sunday at John Paul Jones Arena. With the victory, the Cavaliers improved to 12-9 overall, 1-4 in the ACC and 10-2 at home this season.

It was Virginia's most lopsided ACC victory since an 82-41 victory over Maryland on Jan. 5, 2001.

The loss dropped Virginia Tech's record to 9-10 overall and 0-5 in conference action.

Every Cavalier that saw playing time scored at least a point. Junior forward Chelsea Shine (Wayne, Pa.) was UVa's leading scorer for the third-consecutive game with 16 points and notched her second double-double of the season with 10 rebounds.

Freshman Ataira Franklin (Bowie, Md.) chipped in 11 points and was 3-of-4 from the field, while junior Whitny Edwards (Charlotte, N.C.) added 10 points and three rebounds.

Virginia jumped out to a 7-0 lead to start the game and never looked back. After leading 28-19 at halftime, UVa stretched its lead in the second stanza to 35-25 with 16:36 left.

At that point, the 'Hoos went on a 12-0 run to take a 47-25 lead at the 13:01 mark on a jumper by Shine. The Cavaliers continued to expand their lead and won by a final margin of 72-37.

It was the ninth-consecutive victory for Virginia over Virginia Tech in women's basketball.

Virginia Tech's leading scorer was Alyssa Fenyn with 12 points.