RALEIGH — Thank goodness for Maryland coach Gary “We were up 10 with a minute left” Williams. Otherwise, N.C. State’s Herb Sendek might be the most depressed person on the planet.
North Carolina extended its 14-game winning streak —it hasn’t lost since Dec. 2 — at Sendek’s expense on Sunday afternoon at the Entertainment and Sports Arena, even though the Tar Heels (17-2, 7-0 ACC) were far from the top of their game and had their lowest offensive output of the season.
“Some days you get out of bed and you’re just not sharp as you should be,” sighed UNC coach Matt Doherty. “Our ballhandling wasn’t sharp, our reads on passes into the post weren’t sharp and our passes out of the post weren’t sharp.”
But even the not-so-sharp Heels had enough to dump the Wolfpack 60-52 and lower N.C. State’s very dull overall record to 10-8 and its ACC mark to 2-5.
This was supposed to be the season in which the Wolfpack challenged the Duke-UNC-Maryland stranglehold on the ACC. So far it hasn’t happened, and there’s little reason to believe it will. Sendek’s squad still can’t seem to hit the big shot or get the big break in big games.
“It’s a mystery, because we feel like we should have won,” said N.C. State’s Damon Thornton, who had seven points and 10 boards. “Imean, we were 6-for-31 in the first half and we were still in it right down to the end.”
“We had our chances to have this one well in hand,” added flashy Wolfpack sophomore Damien Wilkins, who scored 12 points, but also committed six turnovers. “We missed layups. We gave it away.”
Joseph Forte scored 21 points and made the high-pressure shots for the fifth-ranked Tar Heels, who make the short drive to Duke for a battle of ACC unbeatens on Thursday. Forte was a modest 8-for-19 from the field, but Doherty declared that the sophomore superstar could have shot 50 times if he’d wanted. “A great player has to have that freedom,” he said. “I didn’t have it (as a player), but (Michael) Jordan, (Sam) Perkins and (James) Worthy did.”
There’s nothing at all unusual about Forte delivering, but otherwise this was a weird game. The Tar Heels actually shot better (47.2 percent from the field) when the Wolfpack was guarding them, then when they weren’t (45 percent from the foul line). And dependable veterans like UNC forward Jason Capel (two points, four fouls) and N.C. State’s Kenny Inge (0-for-7 from the field) had the worst days of their lives.
It was 2-2 after nearly five minutes, as the Tar Heels scored on just one of their first eight possessions. UNC threw the ball away three straight times in one puzzling stretch as it kept trying to force the ball inside to Kris Lang.
Still, it was UNC that got untracked first, building an 18-8 lead. But the momentum switched after burly Tar Heel Julius Peppers was called for a technical for a shove that would have toppled the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The Wolfpack closed to within 23-21 and Thornton had a point-blank shot to tie the game, but UNC’s Brendan Haywood rejected it. That block got Haywood, who had been deathly quiet, energized. The 7-foot senior and Forte then sparked an 8-0 blitz for a 31-21 halftime lead.
“That stretch at the end of the half was key,” said Doherty. “That gave us the cushion we needed in the second half.”
The good news for Sendek was that his team had shot 19 percent in the first 20 minutes, but somehow hadn’t been blown out.
The Wolfpack, aided by foul troubles for Lang and Capel, treaded water for the first 10 minutes of the second half. N.C. State was down 10 when freshman Scooter Sherrill, the former West Rowan High star, started a rally with 10:12 left with a one-hander in the lane. Cornelius Williams then scored down low and Anthony Grundy had a steal and layup to cut UNC’s lead to 46-42.
Forte countered with a clutch 3-pointer to slow the Wolfpack, but N.C. State, fueled by 19,722 crazed fans, kept coming. Wilkins stormed in for a dunk at 1:51 to slice the deficit to 53-52.
UNC’s ensuing possession was the key one in the game. With 20 seconds left on the shot clock, Doherty called time out. Then with seven seconds left on the shot clock — and still nothing much happening — Doherty called another one.
“We looked unsure of ourselves and I was grasping at straws,” he said candidly. “Sometimes a coach is helpless. But then sometimes a great player makes a heck of a play.”
Tar Heel point guard Ronald Curry made that play out of the timeout, a perfect lob to Haywood, who was fouled by Inge as he went for a dunk. That put Haywood, who has been shooting an inexplicably horrible 39 percent from the line in league games, on the stripe with a one-point lead and 1:17 remaining. Tar Heel fans weren’t exactly dancing in the streets at that prospect, but Forte walked over and encouraged the big guy. “Please, just make one. Make one for me,” Forte told him.
Haywood didn’t do as he was told. He made two. The Heels led 55-52.
“Brendan went the extra mile,” said Forte.
“People don’t know how hard Brendan works on free throws,” said Doherty. “Before practice, after practice, late at night. He practiced free throws on Christmas Day.”
A story which a beaming Haywood happily confirmed. “Yeah, while you guys were opening presents, I was shooting free throws,” he said with a chuckle. “For an hour and a half.”
Sendek called timeout with 1:10 left. He wanted a tying 3-pointer and put Sherrill back on the floor. Sherrill went up for a shot from the left corner, but the long-armed Haywood bounded out to block his fifth shot and the Heels recovered the loose ball with 51 seconds left.
Curry then missed the front end of a 1-and-1, giving N.C. State a brief stay of execution. But the Wolfpack failed to take advantage. Wilkins couldn’t handle a lob pass with 25 seconds remaining and lost possession. This time, N.C. State fouled Forte, who calmly drained two free throws to seal the victory.
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NOTES: N.C. State guard Grundy, the No. 7 scorer in the ACC, played after being arrested on an assault charge on Saturday. Grundy maintains his innocence, calling the incident a “misunderstanding.” ... UNChas won five straight in Raleigh and 10 of the last 11 in the series.
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