DJ Horne scored 18 points and 10th-seeded North Carolina State continued its surprising run with a 74-69 victory over No. 11 Duke on Thursday night to reach the semifinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament at Washington.
Mohamed Diarra recorded career highs of 14 points and four blocked shots and also had 16 rebounds and a career high-tying three steals for the Wolfpack (20-14), who won their third game in three days during the tournament.
Michael O’Connell scored 12 points, Casey Morsell had 11 and DJ Burns Jr. added 10 for North Carolina State, which will play Friday against the winner of Thursday’s late semifinal between third-seeded Virginia and 11th-seeded Boston College.
Kyle Filipowski registered 28 points, 14 rebounds and three steals before fouling out for the second-seeded Blue Devils (24-8), who lost their second straight game. Mark Mitchell had 18 points and eight rebounds and Tyrese Proctor added 10 points but was just 4 of 16 from the field.
A tip-in by Filipowski got Duke within 71-66 with 41.3 seconds left. Then disaster struck for the Wolfpack when Ben Middlebrooks missed a wide-open dunk and was called for a technical foul for hanging on the rim with 30.3 seconds to play.
Jared McCain made the technical as Duke pulled within 71-67.
The Blue Devils later moved within two on Filipowski’s layup with 19.7 seconds remaining.
Filipowski fouled out with 15 seconds left, sending Horne to the line. Horne made both attempts to make it a four-point game as NC State closed it out.
The Wolfpack shot 45.9 percent from the field, including 7 of 16 from 3-point range.
Duke made 43.1 percent of its shots and was 5 of 20 from behind the arc. The Blue Devils led for just 3:05.
North Carolina State opened the second half with Morsell’s dunk, Diarra’s putback and Horne’s layup to complete an 11-0 burst and take a 41-32 lead with 17:12 left in the contest.
Duke later scored six straight points to move within 50-48 on a layup by Proctor with 11:47 remaining.
Morsell scored seven points as NC State answered with a 12-4 push. Morsell’s dunk capped it and gave the Wolfpack a 62-52 lead with 6:20 to play.
A short time later, Mitchell scored five straight points as the Blue Devils crept within 64-59 with 4:29 left.
NC State led 69-62 after a jumper by Horne with 2:45 remaining in the game.
Horne scored 12 first-half points, including a runner just prior to the buzzer, as NC State held a 35-32 halftime lead. Filipowski had 12 first-half points for Duke.
–Field Level Media