In a battle of in-state teams that both barely missed out on the NCAA tournament last year, NC State narrowly defeated UNC-Greensboro on the road 80 to 77 on a buzzer-beater half-court shot from senior guard Markell Johnson.
“I’m excited about the win, I thought we had a great road win here,” said NC State head coach Kevin Keatts. “I thought our guys responded; there were ups and downs in the game, we found a way to make some big plays down the stretch.”
After Isaiah Miller hit a floater to tie the game at 77 with two seconds left, Johnson got the ball and took a few dribbles before letting it fly from half court for the win.
“[The shot] just felt like it was right,” Johnson said. “It feels like it was the perfect time.”
Johnson finished with seven assists and a team-high 19 points, with 14 of his points coming in the second half.
Redshirt senior guard C.J. Bryce and graduate forward Pat Andree were also in double digits for NC State (8-2, 1-1 ACC), with 17 points and 15 points, respectively.
Miller led UNC-Greensboro (8-3, 1-0 SoCon) with a game-high 26-points, on 9-of-20 shooting.
Despite not playing for eight days, NC State came out firing from behind the arc, making its first three attempts. Two came from Andree, who started for the second time this season, and one came from junior guard Braxton Beverly to take the early 9-3 lead.
“Tonight it was my job to come in step up,” Andree said. “… be a graduate senior and provide some leadership and hit some shots when I’m open.”
NC State extended its lead to 11-3, but an 8-0 run led by two 3-pointers from Keyshawn Langley tied the game up. The Wolfpack responded with tenacious defense that led to quick offense pushing the lead up to 18-11 after a corner 3-pointer from Beverly.
NC State pushed its lead to double digits on a breakaway dunk off a steal from senior guard Markell Johnson that got the Wolfpack fans in attendance off their feet. The two teams would trade baskets for a good portion of the first half giving NC State a 34-26 lead at the under-four media timeout.
However, the Spartans ended the last four minutes on an 11-4 scoring run to cut the deficit to 38-37 at halftime.
Both teams utilized the 3-pointer in the first half with NC State making six of 14 attempts and UNC-Greensboro making eight of 14 attempts. To go along with perimeter shooting, the Spartans killed the Wolfpack on the boards, as they outrebounded NC State 19 to 13, leading to 10 second-chance points at halftime.
The Spartans took their first lead of the game on the first possession of the second half with a 3-pointer from Isiah Miller.
Similar to the start of the first half, Andree banged his first two 3-point attempts, this time from opposite corners. A tough pull up jumper from Johnson gave NC State the lead back — a lead that would remain for the rest of the game.
Johnson continued to deliver the ball to his teammates with a beautiful pass to Beverly for an open 3-pointer to push the lead to 53-47.
The Wolfpack extended its lead back to double digits before the under-12 media timeout after Johnson drilled a 3-pointer. Then, on the next possession, Johnson found Funderburk for an alley-oop dunk.
Despite the adversity, the Spartans wouldn’t back down as they managed a 9-2 run to get it back within six points, which was started off by a technical foul from redshirt junior Devon Daniels that gave the Spartans two free throws.
Daniels responded with an old-fashioned 3-point play on the offensive end to silence the UNC-G faithful at Greensboro Coliseum. The Spartans immediately responded with a quick 8-0 run off a 3-pointer and two layups to cut the lead to one.
With a little under four minutes left in the game, Bryce hit a big corner 3-pointer off a great pass from Hellems as the shot clock expired to push the NC State lead back up to four points.
“Cole made a great pass to me in the corner and I was able to knock it down,” Bryce said. “But [Hellems] is not only a scorer, he’s a really good basketball player. I feel like he did a really good job defending tonight,”
The two teams would trade buckets, which gave NC State a 77-75 lead with 1:00 remaining and possession of the ball. Johnson missed a 3-point shot and gave UNC-Greensboro the ball back with a chance to tie or take the lead.
After an offensive rebound, the Spartans gave the ball to Miller who got a floater to roll in with two seconds left, which was just enough time for Johnson to get to half court and send up the prayer for the Wolfpack win.
This was Johnson’s second half-court shot made of the season, the other being at the end of the first half against Wisconsin.
“It’s the second time this year I’ve drawn up a play for Markell Johnson to make a half-court shot, and I’m a heck of a coach for that,” Keatts said.
NC State will be back in action Thursday on the road for a big game against Auburn, a Final Four team last year. Tipoff is scheduled for 9 p.m., and it will be nationally televised on ESPN2, with live updates on twitter from @TechSports.
Graduate forward Pat Andree shoots against UNC-Greensboro forward Bas Leyte on Sunday, Dec. 15 at Greensboro Coliseum. Andree scored 15 points as the Wolfpack won 80-77.
