Gatorade, in collaboration with ESPNHS, today announced guard Rodney Purvis of Upper Room Christian Academy as its Gatorade North Carolina boys basketball Player of the Year. Purvis is the first Player of the Year to be chosen from Upper Room. 

The award recognizes outstanding athletic excellence and high standards of academic achievement along with exemplary character demonstrated on and off the court. Purvis is also now a finalist for the National Player of the Year award to be announced later this month.

“It means a lot,” Purvis said. “It’s an honor to have my name on that award.”

Purvis, who is 6-foot-4 and 199-pound, led the Eagles to a 24-16 record and the Greater Carolina High School Athletic Association championship this past season.

“I’m just happy and proud for him,” coach Avie Lester said. “It’s nice that people acknowledge his work and effort.”

Scott Wood made five 3-pointers and finished with 22 points, leading NC State past Boston College 78-57 in the opening round of the ACC tournament Thursday.

New Enloe football coach Mike Massey won’t be able to coach his Eagles until July. Massey knows that can be difficult for a first-year head coach, yet he has a plan to make sure the Eagles don’t fall behind other teams in the spring.

“I’m not going to wait,” said Massey, who has been an assistant principal at Wake Forest-Rolesville Middle School for the last two years. “The important thing is to assess our players now.”

Massey’s contract as an administrator will end on June 30. Massey said defensive backs coach Julian Lee will be leading and supervising the Eagles during their weight training program from now until July.

After being introduced to his new team Tuesday, Massey told his players he will implement his offensive and defensive philosophy soon.

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -- Duke University’s football program has experienced its share of mind-bending losses down through the years. On Saturday afternoon at Boston College’s Alumni Stadium, the shoe was literally on the other foot.

With 43 seconds remaining, BC place-kicker Nate Freese attempted a 23-yard field goal attempt that caromed off the left upright and Duke ran out the clock for a 20-19 ACC victory. Earlier in the game, Freese missed a point-after attempt that bounced off the right upright.

GREENSBORO -- The Clemson Tigers cruised into the ACC tournament semifinals Friday by manhandling Boston College 70-47 at the Greensboro Coliseum.

The Tigers scored the game’s first 11 points and never looked back, leading throughout.

GREENSBORO -- Wake Forest’s forgettable basketball season came to its expected conclusion today when the Deacons were eliminated from the ACC tournament by an 81-67 loss to Boston College at the Greensboro Coliseum.

The defeat ended the Deacons’ poorest season in ACC play, leaving them with an 8-24 record and just one victory in 17 league games (including the tournament).

Officially, Holly Potts finished Sanderson’s 4-1 win over Enloe on Monday night with no goals and no assists. Spartans coach Todd Worley knows that stats don’t mean everything.

With Sanderson leading 2-1 early in the second half, Potts took a free kick from 25 yards and sent a bullet into the high-right corner. But Enloe goalkeeper Hunter Kenny dove for the shot, knocking it down to Sanderson midfielder Ryan Davis who tapped in the rebound for the goal.

Davis was credited for the score – her first of two goals on the night – but Worley knows the Spartans don’t get on the scoreboard without Potts’ perfectly placed ball.

“We’ve been struggling on set pieces. So I just told her to rip it and she did,” Worley said. “It was a nice little angle and we had someone to follow it up with Ryan.”

updated 9:18 p.m.

GREENSBORO -- N.C. State’s women’s basketball team knows how to fight back.

Trailing No. 7 seed Boston College in the first half by as many as 15 points, down by as many as 14 points in the second half, the No. 10 Wolfpack rallied for an unlikely 71-70 victory over the Eagles on Thursday in the first round of the ACC women’s basketball tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum.

This time, after coming up short throughout the regular season, the Pack learned how to finish a close game.

“It’s got to go our way this time,” State coach Kellie Harper said she thought as the clock wound down. “Surely this team deserves a break.”

State got one.

Her team down by a point, State senior Brittany Strachan snagged a rebound off a missed shot by junior Bonae Holston and was fouled in the lane. She stepped to the free throw line and nailed two free throws with 14.9 second left.

Boston College called a timeout with nine seconds on the clock. The Eagles ran a pick-and-roll with guard Jaclyn Thomas and senior center Carolyn Swords, but were rebuffed in the final seconds by a defensive stance that sent the Pack into the second day of the tournament where it will face No. 2 Miami on Friday at 6 p.m.

updated: 7:43 p.m.

CHAPEL HILL – Boston College junior Reggie Jackson’s potentially game-winning 3-pointer came so close to falling Saturday that he believed – half joking, of course -- that North Carolina must have tightened the screws on the rim.

Instead, the 19^th-ranked Tar Heels tightened the screws on their defense.

UNC overcame a double-digit comeback attempt by the Eagles, and its worst-ever scoring output in 361 games at the Smith Center , to win 48-46. The Tar Heels prevailed because they held BC to 26.9 percent shooting, dominated the backboards, and got a fortuitous defensive play from 6-feet-10 forward John Henson, who was guarding the 6-3 Jackson’s shot with scant seconds left.

RALEIGH – Erica Brownlow was shocked the final play was happening right in front of her. If anything, Browlown, a guard for Sanderson, thought Enloe was going to rely on anyone other than the player she was defending with eight seconds left to send the game into overtime.

Instead Enloe’s backup guard Ebonie Coley raced down the court with the hope of making a basket. Coley tried to dribble to the basket, but Browlown striped the ball away from Coley with one second remaining to secure Sanderson a 58-56 victory Wednesday night in the semifinals of the Cap Eight 4-A Tournament.

“I didn’t know she was going to try to drive past me because I don’t think she was the player they designed the play for,” Browlown said of Coley, who only entered the late after starter Dana Brown fouled out. “I thought they would get it to Mykia [Jones] but we guarded her well, so I knew they need to take a quick shot.”

Browlown was right to think Jones would take the final shot. Jones had already scored eight points in the game and was Enloe’s point guard.

But once Browlown forced Coley to go baseline, she was able to wrestle the ball away as multiple players fought for the loose ball.