Wake Forest Upsets No. 22 N.C. State

Wake Forest Upsets No. 22 N.C. State

Published: 3/4/06, 6:46 PM EDT
Credit BellSouth
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) - Eric Williams had 22 points and 16 rebounds to help Wake Forest beat No. 22 North Carolina State 76-63 on Saturday, giving the Demon Deacons a rare highlight in what has been a woeful season.

Justin Gray scored 16 points for the Demon Deacons (15-15, 3-13 Atlantic Coast Conference), who head into next week's league tournament as the 12th seed despite entering the season ranked 18th nationally.

It was the Demon Deacons' only win against a ranked opponent in eight tries this season, and the first since beating fourth-ranked Duke in February 2005.

Engin Atsur scored 23 points to lead the Wolfpack (21-8, 10-6), who played without leading scorer Cameron Bennerman and suffered through a miserable shooting day to close the regular season with a third straight loss.

Gavin Grant added 21 points for N.C. State despite suffering what Herb Sendek said was a broken nose on a collision early in the game.

The Demon Deacons turned in a spirited effort, leading the entire way and increasing their margin to as many as 17 points in the second half. Wake Forest also played solid defense, holding the Wolfpack to 26 percent shooting and a 4-for-29 day from behind the arc.

Bennerman, who averaged a team-high 13 points, sat out with a pulled hamstring that kept him out of practice this week. That opened the door for Grant to make just his second start in the past 23 games, and the sophomore responded by coming within a point of matching his career-high.

But he was the only Wolfpack player to step up in Bennerman's absence. Atsur shot 5-for-16 from the field and 2-for-10 on 3-pointers, while Williams completely outplayed Cedric Simmons in the paint.

Simmons, a 6-foot-9 sophomore averaging 12 points per game, finished with 10 but didn't make a field goal.

The Wolfpack got no closer than seven points in the final minute, and the team's frustrations bubbled over late when Tony Bethel was whistled for a technical foul for elbowing Gray to the ground on a dead ball. Bethel fouled out, and Michael Drum and Gray hit three free throws to make it 74-63 with 47.7 seconds left.

In fact, N.C. State managed to hang in the game by shooting 29-for-34 at the foul line. The number of whistles irked coach Skip Prosser enough late in the first half that he complained to official Mike Eades, who fired back, "Well, they've got to quit fouling then."

But that was about the only thing that didn't go Wake Forest's way. The Demon Deacons scored the game's first seven points and took a 45-32 edge on the boards while forcing the Wolfpack to work for every basket.

The rest of the time, the Demon Deacons watched N.C. State shoot itself out of the game.

N.C. State came in ranking second in the ACC in 3-point shooting (39 percent) and leading the league with an average of 9.5 made 3s per game. But the Wolfpack missed its first 12 shots behind the arc, and couldn't rally after Wake Forest shot 61 percent to build a 42-30 halftime lead.