The Blue Devils built a 16-point lead, then held off a Wolfpack rally for a 71-66 win at the Entertainment and Sports Arena. With the victory, Duke earned at least a share of the Atlantic Coast Conference championship, its fourth straight.

North Carolina, from 1976-79 and 1982-85, and the 1963-66 Blue Devils, are the only other teams to win or share four straight regular-season crowns.

“Definitely it’s an accomplishment, but it’s not over,”Duke senior Chris Carrawell said. “Of course, we lost like 20 guys to the NBA. It just goes to show that we’re still Duke.”

Carrawell and a crop of freshmen stepped in to easily replace the four stars who left Duke last year for the NBA. But it was all Carrawell in this one.

An energized N.C. State team (15-9 overall, 5-8 ACC) fell behind by as many as 16 points early in the second half before a flurry of baskets trimmed the deficit to nine points with eight minutes left. Carrawell, with the Wolfpack’s Damien Wilkins all over him, calmly stepped up and drained a 3-pointer, then on the next possession pulled up for a tough jumper.

Just like that, the lead was back at 14.

“Wilkins plays great defense for a freshman, but that was a big shot,”Carrawell said. “That kind of took the momentum away from them a little bit. They kept coming after us but we made some big plays down the stretch.”

Duke (21-3, 12-1) also made some bad plays. Turnovers helped the Wolfpack creep back into contention, as sophomore guard Anthony Grundy scored six straight points to cut the lead to 70-62.

Shane Battier then missed the front end of a one-and-one chance, and a Duke turnover on its next possession led to a Grundy layup that left the score 70-66 with 38.5 seconds.

“We were giving up possessions like one of those blue-light specials,”said Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski of State’s late surge. “I asked my team to turn off the damn blue light and they finally did. We gave them a couple of very opportunistic baskets.”

Opportunity knocked again for the Wolfpack when Nate James missed on a one-and-one chance with 37.8 seconds left, but this time State didn’t bother to answer the door.

In an offensive series that had its fans shouting, “Shoot it!” over and over and over again, N.C. State made five passes around the perimeter. Finally, Archie Miller drove across the lane and ran into a teammate for a traveling violation. Carrawell’s free throw seconds later iced it.

“Coach has been talking a lot about drive and kick and I think that’s what happened. A lot of guys drove and kicked, but no one was ready to shoot,”said Grundy, who starred with 26 points. “Coach (Herb Sendek) says a lot about shot selection. I just didn’t want to make coach unhappy.”

Duke’s hot start made nearly everyone in the ESA unhappy. TheBlue Devils put 10 points on the scoreboard in the blink of an eye, using 3-pointers from Battier and freshman Jason Williams and stifling defense for a 10-0 lead.

State came back within as few as three points late in the half before Duke’s eventual 34-28 halftime advantage.

“At the beginning of the game when they came out with the intensity that they came out with, we just couldn’t match up with them,”Wilkins said. “From that point on we were out of it.

“We made a valiant effort to come back and match their intensity toward the end of the game. We just weren’t able to finish it out.”

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