North Carolina St. nips Clemson

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Posted 6:46AM on Wednesday, January 16, 2002

CLEMSON, S.C. - Anthony Grundy hadn't missed much all night. Josh Powell made sure one of Grundy's few errors didn't cost North Carolina State. Powell rebounded Grundy's missed shot with 2.1 seconds left and put in the Wolfpack's winning basket in an 80-79 victory over Clemson on Tuesday night. Grundy had given North Carolina State (13-4, 3-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) the lead moments before with a three-point play. Then following Tony Stockman's floater that gave the lead back to Clemson, Grundy drove the right baseline and tried to bank in the winner. But there was Powell, the 6-foot-9 freshman, to rise up and put the ball through. ``I tried to put it in, but I was glad to see Josh be there for me,'' said Grundy, 9-of-14 for 22 points and seven assists. ``He didn't particularly have a good game, like coach said, but at the end if you keep working good things are going to happen for you.'' Good things happened for Grundy once he got in the game. He had started every game this season, but was on the bench for this start, replaced by Illian Evtimov. North Carolina State coach Herb Sendek said he just wanted to see Evtimov in there. ``It was coach's decision,'' Grundy said. ``We may never know the reason.'' ``When Anthony came off the bench, he really caught fire and provided us with a lift,'' Sendek said. The Wolfpack trailed Clemson (11-7, 2-3) by eight points when Grundy first entered. He hit a basket that was the first of 12 straight for North Carolina State and gave the Wolfpack a 44-33 halftime lead. When Clemson led 77-72, Grundy passed to Scooter Sherrill, who made his fifth 3-pointer the Wolfpack had a season-high 15 to cut the lead. Grundy then moved low on the Wolfpack's next possession, getting fouled by Jamar McKnight before making a reverse layup to go ahead 78-77. Everyone at Littlejohn Coliseum knew the ball would go to Grundy one last time. As Clemson's defense tried to cut off the baseline, Powell gained the winning position. ``Grundy made a play and I thought we made a counter play and forced him to miss the shot,'' Clemson coach Larry Shyatt said. ``You guys saw what happened. A guy was in the right place at the right time. Great ending for the bad guys.'' It was North Carolina State's fourth-straight road victory, its longest such streak since winning six in a row in 1974. Stockman took a desperation 60-footer that missed at the buzzer for Clemson (11-7, 2-3) and ended a wild, wild finish. ``We thought we had it won,'' said McKnight, who along with Stockman had 18 points each to lead the Tigers. ``These are lessons for us.'' The Wolfpack looked like they had things in control in the first half, hitting 12 consecutive shots, including eight 3-pointers during one stretch to lead 44-33 by halftime. ``We didn't even know we had that going until afterward,'' said Sherrill, 5-of-7 from three-point range for 18 points. ``It felt good to see them all go in.'' Clemson, which shot 61.2 percent (30-of-49) for the game, went on a 25-13 run to take the lead, 58-57, on Chris Hobbs' inside basket with 12:59 to go. The lead changed 12 times after that, the final time on Powell's follow. The Wolfpack had lost four of their past six to Clemson and had been blown out by Duke, 76-57, this past Sunday. Ray Henderson had 11 points and 10 rebounds for Clemson. Edward Scott finished with 13 assists. Grundy got the Wolfpack moving in the opening period with a bucket. Then after Archie Miller's first 3-pointer, Grundy picked off a crosscourt pass for a breakaway basket and followed with a 3-pointer to tie things at 17-all. Things got silly after that. Marcus Melvin, a 6-foot-8 forward, hit a 3-pointer, Evtimov made a long one, Sherrill connected on two in a row behind the arc and Miller canned another one. Miller's 15-footer was North Carolina State's 12th bucket in a row and put the Wolfpack ahead 37-26. Grundy's next three-point attempt rolled in and out to finish the streak.