By Aaron Beard
Associated Press
RALEIGHó Ben McCauley ripped down the rebound on a missed free throw, drew the foul and let out a loud scream. Two foul shots later, the senior was celebrating the perfect finish to his final home game at North Carolina State.
McCauley had 20 points ó including those clinching free throws with 3.5 seconds left ó to help the Wolfpack hold off Boston College 74-69 in their home finale on Wednesday night.
Tracy Smith added 14 points for the Wolfpack (16-12, 6-9 Atlantic Coast Conference), who ended a two-game skid despite nearly blowing an eight-point lead in the final minutes. N.C. State shot 53 percent, but didn’t secure the victory until coming up with a key defensive stop followed by McCauley’s clutch rebound in the final 20 seconds.
As for his let-it-all-out scream?
“I knew I was going to make the free throws, and I knew the game was over, so I was letting out all my emotions there,” he said. “It was such a great feeling, especially coming off the last game, a tough loss (to Maryland). We wanted this one really bad, we really did.”
McCauley’s confidence sounded a little strange for a guy who is hardly a sure thing at the foul line (69 percent), but N.C. State looked like it still has something to play for down the stretch. Not to mention the fact that, generally speaking, the Wolfpack seems to have finally taken a few steps forward under third-year coach Sidney Lowe.
N.C. State didn’t play particularly well in Sunday’s 71-60 loss to the Terrapins, but it showed more fight in trying to maintain a narrow lead against the Eagles (20-10, 8-7) in the final minutes.
The Wolfpack did it despite playing almost the entire second half without senior Courtney Fells, who suffered a groin injury in the first half. Fells had 11 points and hit all three 3-point attempts in the opening half.
“It says something of where we are and how we’re improved,” Lowe said.
Rakim Sanders scored 21 points to lead Boston College, including three straight 3-pointers that helped the Eagles make their final push. Tyrese Rice had 14 points and a season-high 10 assists for Boston College, which has lost four of six games after seemingly being in position to lock up an NCAA tournament bid.
“I still feel like (NCAA chances) are pretty good,” Rice said. “We’ve got to get a win on Saturday and see how this ACC plays out for the rest of the year and see what kind of seed we have going into the ACC tournament.”
N.C. State appeared to have the game in hand when it took a 66-58 lead with about four minutes to play, but Sanders’ three 3-pointers pulled the Eagles to within 71-67. Then, after Javi Gonzalez missed the front end of a 1-and-1, Joe Trapani hit two free throws to cut the deficit to 71-69 with 26.6 seconds left.
After C.J. Williams hit a free throw to push the margin to three, Rice missed a 3-pointer for the tie with about 15 seconds left.
The ball was tipped into the backcourt and he got the rebound, giving the Eagles one more chance. But Gonzalez fouled Sanders to put him on the line instead of letting him attempt another 3 for the tie. Sanders missed the free throw, with McCauley pulling down the clinching rebound.
McCauley also assisted on a 3-pointer from Dennis Horner and followed with a hanging layup over Corey Raji during Sanders’ shooting flurry.
“He came out with a lot of heart,” said Horner, who had 11 points. “He wanted to win really bad to go off on a good note here, and that’s what he did. He got us fired up, and he played really passionately today and got the win.”
Early on, however, it looked like Boston College was going to have a big day. The Eagles hit their first eight shots with little resistance from N.C. State’s defense to take an eight-point lead in the opening minutes. But the Eagles’ defense wasn’t doing much to slow the Wolfpack at the other end, either.
Eventually, N.C. State started getting stops ó including a 5-minute scoreless stretch ó and ended the half with a 3-pointer from Horner followed by a hook shot from McCauley just before the horn that gave the Wolfpack a 43-34 halftime lead.
Boston College rallied to take a 46-45 lead on a 3 from Trapani with 14:37 left, but the Wolfpack went ahead for good on McCauley’s dunk about a minute later and maintained a one-possession lead for several minutes.