Scott Wood hit a jump shot that started N.C. State's decisive run late on Sunday night and C.J. Williams finished it with two free throws for a 79-74 victory against Maryland at the RBC Center.
Wood, a junior swingman, helped coach Mark Gottfried notch a victory in his first ACC game with his basket with 91 seconds left. Maryland had cut a 14-point lead to five, which prompted Gottfried to call a timeout with 1:45 left.
Richard Howell was the first scoring option on the play. Wood was the second, but he quickly and confidently shot from 17 feet over Pe'Shon Howard to build N.C. State's lead to 69-62.
"I was just trying to cross-screen for Richard, and get Richard open," Wood said. "It kind of opened me up a little bit because my man kind of helped out on Richard."
The basket started a run of eight points in 66 seconds for Wood. He made six consecutive free throws to extend the lead to 75-69, with the first two coming after he took a hit on his left elbow and his arm went momentarily numb.
After Wood made his final free throws, he raced down the floor to block from behind Howard's 3-point shot. After another Maryland foul, Wood and Howard exchanged a few words as C.J. Leslie prepared to shoot two free throws, and teammates pushed Wood away so the situation would not escalate.
"I didn't have nothing to say," Wood said. "I just heard them chirping so I figured I'd get my two cents in, but I didn't say anything. I always figure people play better if they start to talk to you, so that's why I stayed quiet."
Terrell Stoglin hit a long 3-pointer for Maryland with 3.6 seconds left that cut the lead to 77-74, setting up a chance of forcing overtime. Williams was fouled one second later and his first shot made sure N.C. State would not crumble.
N.C. State improved to 12-4 overall and 1-0 in the conference by snapping a nine-game losing streak to Maryland. Leslie led N.C. State with 20 points and 11 rebounds, and Wood added 19 points. Wood has made all 37 of his free throws this season.
Maryland fell to 10-4 and 0-1 and had a seven-game winning streak snapped. Stoglin, a left-hander, scored 25 points and made six 3-point shots.
"We came out with a lot of firepower and we finished with a lot of firepower," Howell said. "We didn't come out and let them do what they wanted to do. We came out with a lot of confidence and a lot of energy."
The decision made Gottfried only the second N.C. State coach to win his ACC debut game. The other was Les Robinson in the 1990-91 season.
Gottfried was pleased by a strong conference start, but did not want to make a big deal of the win and emphasized that the game was only one of 16 in ACC play.
"I'm here to do a job," Gottfried said. "I was hired to do a job, and I know what that job is. We've got to grind them out, get tough and get better. I understand it. I'm clear about it."
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