Scott Wood had two reasons to celebrate N.C. State's victory Sunday afternoon.
He scored 21 points to lead State to a 78-73 victory against Miami and to help his team continue its strong play in the ACC.
He also set the ACC record for consecutive free throws made, at 55. When he hit the second of two free throws after he was fouled on a 3-point shot with 5:21 left, Wood passed J.J. Redick, who made 54 straight for Duke in 2003-04.
"It's big, any time you can be mentioned with J.J. Redick and that you beat one of his records is a great accomplishment," Wood said. "It's nice to finally get it over with, I guess."
Wood added two free throws with 18 seconds left to give the Wolfpack a 77-68 lead and help seal their fourth win in five ACC games. His record now stands at 58.
"Scott lets the game come," coach Mark Gottfried of N.C. State said. "He has a great tempo about his game. He doesn't get flustered if he doesn't get the ball for a while, and he's always a threat. And if he gets fouled, you can mark those down — he's going to make them."
The Wolfpack led 55-41 midway through the second half and withstood a late Hurricanes' rally. Kenny Kadji's dunk with 1:44 left pulled Miami to 72-68.
N.C. State (15-5) responded with a 5-0 run that Wood capped with the two late free throws.
"I thought it was a gutsy win for us; I'm proud of our team," Gottfried said. "They made a charge, we were able to withstand it and still found a way to win. I like that about our team."
The win put N.C. State in a three-way tie for first in the ACC with Duke and Florida State.
"We're playing well at the right time," Wood said. "We just need to continue to get in the gym and work hard and continue to build on this momentum that we have."
The Hurricanes outscored the Wolfpack 15-4 during a 3:46 stretch late in the second half. Kadji's three-point play with 4:26 remaining ended the surge and pulled Miami to 65-60.
Kadji scored 20 points to lead the Hurricanes (10-7, 1-3).
"All the things we're trying to work on and improve, we don't focus on doing those things under game conditions," coach Jim Larranaga of Miami said. "Until the team learns to practice better and execute better and then execute them in game conditions, the same mistakes keep occurring.
"It starts with defense, and it starts with effort."
N.C. State maintained its double-digits halftime lead through the first 10 minutes of the second half until Miami responded with six unanswered points to close to 59-51 with 7:33 left.
C.J. Leslie's two free throws with 3:17 left gave N.C. State its first double-digits lead of the first half, at 32-22, and were part of a 10-0 run. C.J. Williams' second of consecutive 3-pointers with 1:23 left ended the surge and increased the Wolfpack's lead to 38-22.
N.C. State limited Miami to 7-of-25 shooting from the field in the first half and led 39-27 at halftime.
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