Yellow Jackets one win away from clinching NCAA berth

GREENSBORO

Three weeks ago, while in the throes of a frustrating regular season, Coach Paul Hewitt of Georgia Tech said his Yellow Jackets were an NCAA Tournament team.

The past three days have been spent proving it.

Freshman Derrick Favors led the way with 17 points and eight rebounds and junior Gani Lawal contributed 12 points and 10 rebounds as the No. 7 seed Yellow Jackets outlasted dogged N.C. State 57-54 yesterday in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament.

In dire straits after losing five of its final seven regular-season games, Georgia Tech (22-11) is one victory away from clinching its second NCAA Tournament berth in the past five seasons.

The challenge of beating top-seed Duke in today's championship at 1 p.m. is daunting, but Hewitt doesn't want to leave anything to chance. He declined to address whether Georgia Tech will be invited regardless.

"We are trying to win the ACC Tournament," Hewitt said. "We've got a chance to make ourselves a lock (today) and that is the mindset we have right now."

Georgia Tech, after building a 29-19 halftime lead, weathered a fierce N.C. State comeback with more than a little help from the player who had done as much as anyone to help get the Wolfpack to yesterday's semifinals. N.C. State trailed 49-46 with a minute and a half left when junior Javier Gonzalez, a hero of Friday night's victory over Florida State, dribbled the ball off his foot at midcourt while getting pressured by Tech's Iman Shumpert.

Gonzalez then compounded his team's problems by grabbing the jersey of Derrick Favors and swinging the 6-10, 240-pound Favors to the court. The officials rushed in to call an intentional foul.

"I used the ball screen and I got hit a little bit on the arm and lost control of the ball," Gonzalez said. "We were just trying to make plays to get back in the game because we just had lost the lead.

"Obviously it turned the ball over in a critical moment."

After the officials, Bryan Kersey, Les Jones and Mike Eades, managed to separate incensed players jostling to get at each other, Favors stepped to the line to make the first free throw and miss the second. The Yellow Jackets capitalized on the extended possession when Shumpert fed Favors on the inbound pass for a power layup and a 52-46 lead

Favors, fouled on the play, missed the free throw, but the damage left the Wolfpack in a deeper hole than it could dig out of.

"Obviously that affects the game -- not just from the points standpoint, but just emotionally, them getting jacked up and everyone is jumping around like, ‘This 6-10 guy just got killed or something by a 6-foot kid,' " Coach Sidney Lowe of N.C. State said. "I mean let's be real. I mean he grabbed his jersey. (Favors) was fine.

"But yeah, anytime there's a swing like that, it's a factor."

Lowe praised his team for not giving in after the incident. After Shumpert missed two free throws with the Yellow Jackets leading 55-51, Gonzalez drilled a 3-pointer from the left wing to pull the Wolfpack to within 55-54 with 12.4 seconds remaining in the game.

D'Andre Bell answered with two free throws for a 57-54 lead, leaving N.C. State 11.4 seconds to make the tying basket. Gonzalez took the shot, driving off a pick from Tracy Smith on the right wing to launch a 3-point attempt over Favors that bounded long.

Gonzalez rebounded and threw up an off-balance shot that fell short of the basket as time expired.

"Favors backed up a little bit and I had room to get it off," Gonzalez said. "I got it off, but I missed."

Smith scored 15 points to lead the Wolfpack, which battled into the final seconds despite making 19 of 62 shots from the floor (31 percent), six of 26 from 3-point range (23 percent) and 10 of 19 from the free-throw line (53 percent).

Gonzalez hit three 3-pointers on eight tries and freshman Scott Wood made two on five attempts, but senior Dennis Horner was only one for eight from beyond the arc and senior Farnold Degand was 0 for 4.

N.C. State, which fell to 19-13 with just its second loss in seven games, returned to Raleigh carrying hopes for an invitation to the NIT.

"I'm just really proud of them," Lowe said. "We didn't shoot the ball well -- 30 percent, (53) percent from the free-throw line -- and we lose by three points.

"We certainly had the opportunity, but we just couldn't finish it off. (Georgia Tech) made some plays. They're a good ball club. I'm proud of the way these guys hung in there."

dcollins@wsjournal.com.
727-7323

NCSU Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF Pts

Gonzalez 32 3-14 0-0 2-5 2 4 9

Degand 34 3-9 2-6 1-5 4 3 8

Wood 36 3-7 1-3 0-2 1 3 9

TSmith 28 6-13 3-4 1-3 0 4 15

Horner 30 2-12 2-4 4-8 2 3 7

Howell 12 1-1 0-0 1-6 0 4 2

Vandenberg 10 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Williams 10 1-2 2-2 1-3 0 2 4

Mays 8 0-3 0-0 1-1 0 0 0

Totals 200 19-62 10-19 13-36 9 23 54

Percentages: FG .306, FT .526; 3-Point Goals: 6-26, .231 (Gonzalez 3-8, Wood 2-5, Horner 1-8, Williams 0-1, Degand 0-4); Team Rebounds: 3; Blocked Shots: 2 (Wood, Williams); Turnovers: 6 (Gonzalez 2, Wood, Williams, Degand, T.Smith); Steals: 7 (Horner 2, Mays, T.Smith, Williams, Degand, Gonzalez); Technical Fouls: None.

GT Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF Pts

Shumpert 33 3-7 1-4 1-7 2 3 7

Bell 23 1-3 6-6 0-1 4 2 9

Favors 34 7-10 3-5 2-8 1 2 17

Lawal 23 5-7 2-7 3-10 1 2 12

Rice Jr 23 0-1 3-6 0-4 4 3 3

Udofia 8 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 0 0

MMiller 15 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 3

Oliver 18 1-6 0-0 1-2 0 3 2

Peacock 23 0-5 4-4 0-4 0 3 4

Totals 200 18-41 19-32 7-42 13 18 57

Percentages: FG .439, FT .594; 3-Point Goals: 2-10, .200 (Bell 1-1, M.Miller 1-1, Rice Jr. 0-1, Peacock 0-1, Shumpert 0-3, Oliver 0-3); Team Rebounds: 4; Blocked Shots: 4 (Favors 2, Lawal 2); Turnovers: 16 (Shumpert 5, Bell 3, M.Miller 2, Favors 2, Oliver 2, Peacock, Lawal); Steals: 6 (Shumpert 2, Favors 2, Udofia, M.Miller); Technical Fouls: None.

N.C. State 19 35 -- 54
Georgia Tech 29 28 -- 57

A--23,381