In the scene, the coach is giving his best locker room speech, one that seemed so appropriate for N.C. State’s second-round National Invitational Tournament matchup against Arizona State Tuesday night.

“No one comes into our house and pushes us around.”

Especially you, Eddie House.

The Sun Devil scoring machine almost made it his house, weaving inside and out for 32 points against the Wolfpack. But a gimmick defense that Herb Sendek had worked on all week long was enough to squelch House in the final minutes and enable State to come away with a 60-57 victory.

The win gives the Pack (19-12) a tentative home game Thursday night against Mississippi, a winner over Southwest Missouri State. Another triumph and State would be in Madison Square Garden for the NITFinal Four.

“We want to go to New York,” said freshman Damien Wilkins, who drilled two crucial free throws in the final seconds.

Midway through the second half, House thought he would carry Arizona State to the Big Apple by being the Big Cheese, having taken far more than half of his team’s shots.

But he scored only two points in the last 12 minutes. House missed the front end of a one-and-one with 1:18 left and the Sun Devils up one. He then missed a wide-open 3-pointer at the buzzer that could have tied it.

It left 14,982 exhausted and hoarse fans taking a deep breath. Some even leaped over press row and stormed the court.

Maybe the exhilaration was due to an intense performance by their team. Maybe it was just the relief of getting past the NIT second round for the first time in four seasons.

“We had talked about getting past this,” said Kenny Inge, the Pack hero, who scored the eventual winning points, his 18th and 19th of the game. “

“Everybody’s ecstatic,” smiled Damon Thornton, who was back after an ankle injury. “Win and advance. That’s all that counts.”

State won without the help of its backcourt. Anthony Grundy and Justin Gainey combined to go a sickly 1-of-15 from the floor and score six points. But their attention was not offense but rather, trying to stop the unflappable House.

The 6-foot-1 senior scored 21 of his team’s 29 points in the opening half and took 20 of his team’s 31 field goal attempts. He made shots with people hanging all over him. He made shots from 25 feet. He made shots after steals and after offensive rebounds (he even led Arizona State with seven boards). When he slipped through a double team just before halftime and drained a short jumper, Arizona State had overcome an early 7-point deficit to take a 29-26 advantage into the locker room.

House then scored the first three Sun Devils baskets of the second half and guarding him looked hopeless.

“Some of the shots he made were unbelievable,” Thornton said.

With 12 minutes left and Arizona State in control, Sendek went to his box-and-one.

“After watching tape of Eddie House, you have to have a secondary defense ready because he’s that good,” Sendek explained. “It came in handy.”

With Tim Wells, Grundy and even Inge jumping out on him, House was silenced from that point. His disappearance coincided with a resurgent Pack offense.

Down 43-36, State went on a 16-4 run to take the lead 52-47 with 7:20 left. Tim Wells hit two 3s in the run, while Gainey scored four points on charity tosses.

House eventually scored on the free throw line, tying the game at 54. Grundy hit two foul shots but Alton Mason drove and completed a 3-point play with 1:56 left.

Down 57-56, the outlook was bleak for the Pack when House rebounded an Inge miss and was fouled. But the 80-percent foul shooter missed his first.

State knew where to go with the ball — in the paint.

“If we don’t go inside,” Inge said, “we’re asking to lose the game. We just pounded it in there.”

Wilkins, who scored nine of his 11 points after intermission, drove and missed. But there was Inge, the bruising junior, dunking the rebound back in with 57 ticks remaining for a 58-57 lead.

House ran the clock down to under 10 seconds but couldn’t get a shot off. He passed to Mason, who ruined his previous heroics by traveling and Wilkins hit two free throws for the 60—57 score at the 7.4 mark. That’s 7.4 nerve-wracking seconds.

Grundy was covering House, who somehow slipped down the baseline and found himself wide open in the dead corner, where he took a pass from Mason.

“How in the world did he get so wide open?” marveled Sendek.

“Our hearts were in our throats,” Thornton admitted.

But the last of House’s 30 shots bounded off the rim to Inge, who held his 12th rebound of the night aloft as the fans went berserk.

“Kenny Inge was fantastic,” Sendek said. “We desperately needed somebody to step up.”

And step on Eddie House, whose next house will be the one he buys with the millions he’ll make in the NBA.

And you can bet Eddie won’t buy that house in Raleigh.