NC State and Notre Dame played down to the final second for the second-straight year.
The script was a little different, the environment changed and the Wolfpack has a new cast of players, but the end result remained the same.
Former center D.J. Burns was the hero last year with two baskets in the final 13 seconds to pull out a 54-52 win at Notre Dame on Jan. 3, 2024.
The scenery moved to the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, and new senior shooting guard Marcus Hill tied the game 65-65 with 67 seconds left, and senior center Ben Middlebrooks made one free throw with 11.7 seconds left to win it 66-65.
NC State improved to 9-6 overall and 2-2 in the ACC, and host North Carolina at 4 p.m. Saturday on the ACC Network.
NCSU coach Kevin Keatts knew his team had to improve defensively after back-to-back road losses at Virginia and at Wake Forest. Both ACC foes shot well vs. NC State in the second half. Notre Dame was held to 40.7 percent shooting from the field after halftime.
“We’ve talked about over the last couple of days of being really, really better defensively,” Keatts said. “Didn't feel like at Wake Forest or Virginia, we put any game pressure on them with our defense. I told this bunch that I’m not worried about offense right now.”
Notre Dame kept its composure and looked to deliver a big blow when sophomore wing Micah Shrewsberry made a 3-pointer from the right wing to give the Fighting Irish a 63-56 lead with 3:39 left in the game.
NC State dug deep for the answer, with senior forward Dontrez Styles hitting a 3-pointer from the right wing to cut it down to four again.
“It was very big and I didn’t shoot the ball well at all,” Styles said. “I just kept battling, kept battling. We needed this win bad. So, I was willing to do anything to get the win.”
NC State turned up the defensive heat and also made Notre Dame sophomore point guard struggle down the stretch. Following the Shrewsberry three-pointer, the Wolfpack finished off the Fighting Irish 10-2 in the final 3:39.
Burton had one last chance to be the hero at the buzzer, but NCSU senior shooting guard Jayden Taylor did a quality job defensively and forced him to miss.
Keatts said the key with Burton was to force him to use his left hand.
“What was going through my mind was, ‘He better not make this shot,’” Keatts said. “I thought we did a really good job. Like, Ben stayed with him for about four seconds. Then we exited out.”
Taylor’s offense was also a key part in NC State scoring 40 points after halftime and shooting 5 of 10 on three-pointers. The Indianapolis, Ind., native got hot to start the second half. He scored 12 points to help NC State rally from being down 33-26 at halftime, to leading 47-44 with 11:57 left in the game.
Taylor finished with 12 of his 14 points after halftime, and Middlebrooks had all 10 of his points in the second half, after two fouls limited him to five first-half minutes.
The first half proved slow and methodical, which is what Notre Dame preferred.
NC State went 10 of 28 from the field and 5 of 17 on three-pointers en route to just 26 first-half points.
NC State got two much-needed three-pointers from Hill, or the halftime deficit of 33-26 would have been much worse. Hill finished with a team-high 15 points.
Notre Dame made sure junior power forward Tae Davis got good matchups to go to work against. He had nine points, four rebounds and three assists in the first half, to carry Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish took advantage of their opportunities, shooting 13 of 25 from the field for 52.0 percent.
Davis wasn’t quite as effective in the second half and finished with 14 points and six assists. Burton had 15 points and four assists in his second game back from injury.
Notre Dame fell to 7-8 overall and 1-3 in the ACC.
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