CHARLOTTE — It only seemed fitting that NC State and Clemson came down to free throws once again.
NC State junior point guard Markell Johnson hit two free throws with 2.6 seconds left to help rally the Wolfpack to a 59-58 victory over Clemson on Wednesday at the ACC Tournament. The Wolfpack rallied from a 16-point halftime deficit, stunning the Spectrum Center crowd.
Johnson proved be the second-half catalyst, scoring 13 of his game-high 23 points after halftime. He drove left on sophomore Clyde Trapp, who was called for the foul, much to the dismay of CU coach Brad Brownell. Johnson going to the line carried on a recent trend in the series.
Clemson fifth-year senior guard Marcquise Reed missed four free throws down the stretch, opening the door for NC State to win 69-67 on a Braxton Beverly three-pointer at the buzzer. NC State escaped with a victory last year when wing Gabe DeVoe was fouled with 0.2 seconds left, and missed the third of three throws in the Wolfpack’s 78-77 win.
Johnson’s had gone through a similar clutch free-throw shooting scenario in NC State’s 66-65 overtime loss against Virginia, who the Wolfpack play at 12:30 p.m. Thursday. Johnson was fouled on a last second three-pointer — down 66-63 — but he missed the first one and then made the next two, though he was trying to miss the third on purpose.
“Taking it from the Virginia game where I missed one of the three, I just gained a lot of confidence,” Johnson said. “I just felt like I had already been in that position before.”
NC State wasn’t using any set plays, just turning Johnson loose down the stretch. He knew he wanted to get into the lane regardless of Clemson’s fouling stretch.
“Once I get into the lane, I know I can finish both ways no matter the contact,” Johnson said. “Coach [Kevin] Keatts challenged me to come out here and step up, and he’s challenged me since the beginning of the year.
“I have a ton of confidence. I just feel like I can’t really miss when I’m in the mode and feeling myself.”
Keatts said Clemson trying to switch on screens helped give Johnson some favorable matchups at times.
“He had a lot of bigger guys on him,” Keatts said. “At times we called for a ball screen and we said ‘No,’ and just let him make a play. I thought he made huge plays all day long.”
No other NC State player scored in double figures for the Wolfpack, who finished the game shooting 41.1 from the field.
“We got everything [from Johnson],” NCSU redshirt junior C.J. Bryce said. “Defensive, offensive, he really picked it up and carried us tonight.”
Clemson cools off in second half
Keatts didn’t bring up the NCAA Tournament as a motivation tool at halftime, but he surely wasn’t pleased. Clemson shot lights out in first half, 8 of 13 from three-point land, and a nifty 51.6 percent from the field. The same Tigers squad had zero three-pointers against the Wolfpack in the regular season meeting.
Conversely, the Wolfpack went 1 of 10 on three-pointers and were out of sync with the Tigers defense double-teaming the high ball screens around the three-point line.
Whatever worked for Clemson in the first half, came undone in the second. The Tigers shot a miserable 6 of 31 in the second half, and 1 of 10 on three-pointers.
“They traditionally haven’t been a great shooting three-point team for the year,” Keatts said. “We were disappointed in our defensive effort. We gave up eight threes in the first half. That was the difference in the game, if you ask me.”
The poor shooting opened the door for NC State to rally from being down 16 points. It also helped that CU senior center Elijah Thomas struggled with foul problems before falling out with just eight points.
“We stacked stops on top of stops and came out on top,” said Johnson, who didn’t feel any NCAA Tournament pressure.
NC State looking forward to No. 1-seeded Virginia
Keatts grew up in Lynchburg, Va., but has yet to defeat Virginia Tech or Virginia during his time at NC State. He’ll get another shot at the Cavaliers on Thursday.
Some of the motivation of defeating UVA stems from Keatts, Bryce and UNC Wilmington falling 76-71 to them in the 2017 NCAA Tournament. Keatts often refers to that contest as the “Marial Shayok game” because Shayok played in the post and had 23 points off the bench. He later transferred to Iowa State when the Cavaliers season came to an end.
Bryce said he still has a bad taste in his mouth from the regular season loss, let alone from his time at UNCW.
“They have some really good players over there, but I believe in our locker room,” Bryce said. “We actually had the game [in 2017], but they came and made a run at the end of the game. Not really looking at that too much, but they are a really good team.”
Keatts downplayed the matchup but needless to say, he’d love nothing more than to get another signature win for the NCAA Tournament resume.
“What is high on my list is to beat every team that comes in front of me, and that is all I do and all I want,” Keatts said.
Johnson has fresh memories of the Virginia loss, where he scored a team-high 14 points in the overtime loss.
“We need a better effort than last time, and we fell a little short,” Johnson said.
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