ATLANTA -- With Georgia Tech in full panic mode, all that was left for N.C.
State was to make one, final shot that would produce an unlikely ACC
basketball victory for the Wolfpack over the Yellow Jackets.

It didn’t happen for N.C. State, which saw Julius Mays’ 3-pointer bounce away as the buzzer sounded Saturday, giving Georgia Tech a frantic 73-71 victory at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.

The Wolfpack (14-10, 2- 7 ACC) trailed by 16 points – 66-50 – with 5 minutes, 6 seconds remaining. Its offense wasn’t looking much better than it did in an ugly loss Wednesday at Virginia. The only way to salvage this one, coach Sidney Lowe thought, was to use a trapping full-court press on the Yellow Jackets (17-6, 5-4).

It very nearly worked for N.C. State, which created so much havoc from the press that Georgia Tech was either unable to inbounds the ball or, when it did, could barely get it past midcourt.

"When you get a couple of turnovers and scores on some stops and some travels and things, the guys get energized by that," said Lowe. "They talk about it: One more
stop, do it again."

After N.C. State had cut Tech’s lead to 69-57 on two Dennis Horner free throws, the Wolfpack began its press.

Said guard Javier Gonzalez: "We were down 12 with four minutes to go. That’s just three points per minute."

The press immediately produced three straight Yellow Jacket turnovers, resulting in six N.C. State points. It was now 69-63 with 3:04 left.

After Tech’s Zachery Peacock (22 points) made a free throw, the Wolfpack went on another six-point run, thanks to a steal by Horner and two more Tech turnovers.

"They didn’t like it," Gonzalez said of Georgia Tech’s reaction to the press.

Now it was 70-69 with 2:10 remaining. Tech momentarily regained its composure, getting two free throws from Peacock and another by freshman Derrick Favors with 1:04 left for a 73-69 lead.

Two more free throws by Horner, however, cut the lead to 73-71 with 18.1 seconds left. Although the Yellow Jackets got the ball inbounds, the Wolfpack again tied it up and had the possession arrow in its favor with 14.3 seconds remaining.

That set up N.C. State’s final possession. Gonzalez missed a medium-range jumper with about five seconds remaining. The ball kicked out to Mays at the top of the key, but his straight-away 3-pointer missed.

"We panicked," said Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt. "We have a saying around our program that a lobbed ball is a loose ball. When you get in those situations,
you use your timeouts and don't lob the ball."

Lowe, whose team got 22 points from Tracy Smith, thought Mays was fouled by Tech's Iman Shumpert on the last shot. Lowe argued vehemently with the referees, so much that he didn’t shake Hewitt's hand on the court. He sought Hewitt out in the locker room afterward, though, to offer his congratulations.

"The heat of the moment got me right there," said Lowe. "I was a little upset at some things. I don't want to talk about the officials, but you all saw it. I guess I can say that
I thought (Mays) got fouled. They didn’t call it, I was a little upset at that and now we move on."

— David Scott

Video courtesy of Raycom Sports