With the Wolfpack holding on for dear life after blowing a 16-point lead with 11 minutes remaining, Grundy made the biggest play of the young season for the 5-0 Wolfpack. His steal and layup with 29 seconds left preserved a 64-60 win over the brick-laying Providence Friars.

Grundy’s play and N.C. State’s win had most of the 18,411 thinking Top 25 poll for the first time since the days of Fire and Ice (Chris Corchiani and Rodney Monroe). The Pack has now beaten teams from the SEC, Big Ten and now Big East.

“At this point, rankings are not important,” said State coach Herb Sendek. “There’s so much more basketball to be played.”

But there was no argument that if N.C. State is in Monday’s poll, it can thank Grundy, a sophomore from Louisville, Ky.

With a minute left, that 16-point lead seemed like an eternity ago. Damien Wilkins had given N.C. State that margin when he electrified the crowd with a spectacular reverse layup at the 11:18 mark. It would be the freshman’s 13th and 14th — and final — points of the night.

That’s also when the execution stopped.

“We knew they’d be a scrappy team,” said Damon Thornton, who picked up three quick personals and fouled out during Providence’s rally. “But we just didn’t execute as well as we should’ve.”

When the Friar’s leading scorer Erron Maxey dunked, it was suddenly a three-point game at 61-58 with 2:03 left. Wilkins then missed badly on two free throw attempts, giving Providence a chance to tie but Abdul Mills, who was 2-for-8 from three-point range, missed.

Providence got another opportunity when Grundy threw the ball away with 40 seconds left.

That’s when he went to goat to hero.

Providence’s 6-9 center David Murray found himself outside holding the ball when Grundy zipped in front of a pass intended for Mills and soared in for a layup and a five-point cushion. Maxey scored with 15 seconds left but a Justin Gainey free throw gave the Wolfpack a two-possession advantage at the 14.8 second mark.

Grundy was asked how he got to the pass and he mentioned his rubberband limbs.

“The guys have always told me I have long arms,” he said with a grin, “and I try to use that to my advantage. I saw the guy with the ball at the top of the key and felt he wasn’t comfortable. Guys like that usually want to get rid of it. I just shot the gap.”

It seemed strange that N.C. State had to make a big play at all to beat Providence. Over the first 30 minutes, the Pack was practically flawless.

Providence was not.

The Friars (3-4) shot just 10-of-37 (27.8 percent) from the field in the first half, going 1-for-9 (11.1 percent) from three-point range. Meanwhile Grundy and Wilkins were each going 4-for-6. The result was a 36-21 lead.

Up three, 22-19, N.C. State finished the half on a 14-2 spurt. Grundy started the run with a (what else?) steal and layup and Wilkins finished it with eight straight points.

“The first half was among the best we’ve played all season,” said Sendek.

Then, came the Friar comeback and Sendek stressed that he was expecting it.

“Two words to describe Providence are relentless and tenacious,” he said. “I told the team that regardless of the score, you better play every tick on the clock.”

N.C. State was coming off a 61-59 win at Purdue and Sendek said his team had just one day to prepare.

“We knew this was a dangerous game,” he said. “As much as you want to scrutinize yourself, you have to give Providence credit.”

The performance of Wilkins made him forget the Friar rally. The reverse layup, that raised the roof on the brand-spanking new Entertainment and Sports Arena, brought back memories of father Gerald and uncle Dominique. He finished with a double-double, grabbing 10 rebounds.

“He had 23 rebounds against teams from the Big East and Big Ten,” Sendek said, “and (five)games into the season, that’s a quite a statement. I wouldn’t trade Damien Wilkins for anybody.”

And you can bet there’s a couple of long arms owned by Grundy that will never be traded either.

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