N.C. State 60, Auburn 58

A dismal shooting night for Tracy Smith? Maybe. He was 2-for-16 from the floor before he hit the two biggest shots of the night.

With Smith hitting the winning basket with 1.3 seconds to go, N.C. State remained undefeated at 4-0 with a 60-58 win over Auburn.

"I was just praying I made it," Smith said. "I saw the rebound come off, and I went and got it, and I shot the shot and it went in."

Smith also converted a three-point play with 50 seconds to go to put N.C. State in the lead for the first time since Auburn took a 51-49 lead with 4:01 to go. Javi Gonzalez made only one of two free throws shortly after, leaving the door open for Auburn's Brendon Knox to tie the score at 58 with 12.4 seconds left.

After Julius Mays missed a 3-pointer from the corner, Smith grabbed the rebound in the lane and scored off the glass for the win, finishing with 11 points on the night.

"I thought it was a great effort on our guys' part, really hanging in there mentally and fighting and battling down to that last basket by Tracy, just determined to get that loose ball," N.C. State coach Sidney Lowe said.

Smith's 15 rebounds were a career high, seven of them offensive rebounds on his own misses.

"I can't remember a night like that," Smith said.

The Wolfpack led Auburn 26-25 at the half, led by nine points from Horner, who was on the floor for only 10 minutes because of foul trouble. A Scott Wood putback late in the half put State back in the lead after a 14-4 Auburn run got the Tigers back into the game.

In the second half, N.C. State was up 39-28 when Auburn ripped off a 21-4 run. State was 1-for-17 from the field during that stretch while Auburn hit four 3-pointers in a row.

Down six, Gonzalez and Mays hit back-to-back 3-pointers to tie the score at 49 with four minutes to go, the entire State bench standing and chanting ‘defense’ in a spontaneous show of team spirit.

With the score tied 51-51, Smith missed the front end of a bonus and Auburn's Frankie Sullivan responded with a 3-pointer at the other end, only to be answered by Dennis Horner, who led the Pack with 16 points.

With the win over Auburn, N.C. State captured the Glenn Wilkes Classic title as the only one of the 10 teams with a 4-0 record. A loss would have put N.C. State, Auburn, IUPUI and Central Florida in a four-way tie for the championship at 3-1. Rhode Island won in 2007 and Utah in 2008.

Smith was named the tournament’s outstanding player and Horner was named to the all-tournament team.