Sarah Cochran
Redshirt senior guard Torin Dorn dunks the ball during the game versus the Clemson Tigers on Wednesday, March 13, 2019 in the Spectrum Center during the ACC Tournament. Dorn scored 8 points and had 12 rebounds against the Tigers. The Wolfpack beat the Tigers 59-58.
CHARLOTTE — NC State men’s basketball came up with a nailbiter, 59-58 win over Clemson in the first round of the ACC Tournament at Spectrum Center Wednesday. The Wolfpack found itself down 18 points in the first half but crawled all the way back behind junior guard Markell Johnson, who hit the game-tying and game-winning free throws with 2.6 seconds to play.
Johnson led all scorers with 23 points, an effort that was absolutely necessary for the Pack to top Clemson and secure the first postseason win under head coach Kevin Keatts since no other NC State player had more than 8 points. The defense was lackluster in the first half but held the Tigers to 16 points and 19.4-percent shooting after the break.
“We talked about halftime,” Keatts said. “It wasn’t about X’s and O’s; it was about how much heart and desire and effort you would put into it, and I told them, ‘If you play extremely hard, we’ll come out with a win,’ and these guys were special.”
NC State looked down-and-out of this game early, but the massive comeback behind a loud crowd not only advances the team to a Thursday matchup with Virginia, but drastically improves its chances to make the NCAA Tournament.
Despite graduate guard Torin Dorn scoring NC State’s first four points, including an alley-oop dunk assisted by Johnson, the offense struggled early on, giving up a big lead to the Tigers.
The Pack was down 18-6 at the 14-minute mark and then 22-8 at just under 12 minutes in the first half. At that point, five different Tigers had scored, and at an efficient pace, while only Dorn, graduate forward Wyatt Walker and redshirt freshman forward DJ Funderburk had made a bucket for the Pack.
It didn’t seem like it would get better for Keatts’ team in the first half, finding itself down 36-18 at the under-eight timeout. Although a five-minute scoring drought haunted Clemson, NC State could only get the game within 10 points.
“We’ve been here before,” Dorn said. “We’ve been down numerous times throughout the season and we’ve been able to come back, so I think it’s just something that we’re built for, and we just know that’s how we play and we practice like that, so it’s nothing new to us.”
Directly following the scoreless stretch, the Tigers rattled off six straight to go up 42-26 before the end of the first half. Johnson led all players with 10 points, and Dorn was the only other Pack player that had made more than one first-half field goal.
For Clemson, eight players scored in the first half, including all five of its starters between six and nine points. Clemson led the rebounding contest by six and shot 51.6 percent from the field, compared to the Pack’s 35.5 percent.
The second half started off more positive as NC State brought the game within nine points behind a highly-efficient Johnson. He ran the offense smoothly and quickly after the break to get his team back in the game.
Right after the Tigers pulled away to go up 51-37 at the 15-minute mark, NC State went on a 10-0 run over three and a half minutes to get within four points. The run included two layups from sophomore guard Braxton Beverly and 3-pointers by freshman forward Jericole Hellems and redshirt sophomore guard Devon Daniels.
Funderburk scored the Wolfpack’s next two buckets, and all of a sudden NC State had brought it all the way back two a two-point game with six minutes left.
Like he has been all season, Johnson came up with the big buckets, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Pack up 57-53, its first lead since it was 4-3, because of a seven-minute scoring drought from the Tigers.
“I knew my teammates had my back from whatever,” Johnson said. “Like from when I shot that 3. They had my back the whole game, but they really boosted me. They really helped me. They encouraged me to keep going there down the stretch.”
However, Clemson didn’t go away any quieter than NC State did, seizing the lead again at 58-57 after a 3-pointer and a layup. That score held for three minutes as the two teams battled back-and-forth with nothing falling.
With less than 15 seconds remaining, NC State controlled the ball with the one-point deficit. It was obvious Johnson was the guy that was taking the shot, and while he drove to the basket, Johnson was fouled and put to the line with 2.6 seconds remaining.
Johnson, with the pressure on, made the first free throw before a Clemson timeout and hit the second after returning to the court to take a 59-58 lead. Keatts called a timeout to set up his defense and the last second shot from the Tigers went over the backboard, completing the unbelievable comeback win.
“Really just making [the second free throw],” Johnson said. “That was the only thing going through my mind, stepping up to the line, being confident and knocking it in. That was really it.”
The 16-point halftime comeback is the second largest in ACC Tournament history, a feat to be proud of but certainly not a situation the team hopes to be in all the time.
NC State survives and advances to play top-seeded Virginia on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte.
“We put together a great second half, obviously, today,” Keatts said. “And so we’re going in as a confident team. We know that they’re a very good basketball team. [Virginia head coach] Tony [Bennett] has done a tremendous job with their program, but our guys are excited to play.”