Tireless North Carolina State Not Ready to Pack It in Yet

They should change the North Carolina State school song to “Running on Empty,” and its nickname to the “No-Flab Five.”

The players should send their pulse rates to the Mayo Clinic and maybe--if this run gets any crazier--their sneakers to the Smithsonian.

Pushing the boundaries of human endurance as it rewrites the conference record book, No. 8-seeded North Carolina State took another improbable leap toward the NCAA tournament Saturday when it upset No. 5 Maryland, 65-58, to advance to today’s Atlantic Coast Conference tournament championship game.

The Wolfpack will face teal-hot North Carolina (23-6), an 86-73 winner over Wake Forest (23-6) in Saturday’s other semifinal.

Before a disbelieving crowd of 23,250 at the Greensboro Coliseum, North Carolina State became the first No. 8-seeded team to advance to the title game in the 44-year history of the tournament.

The question at the end of North Carolina State’s victory was, naturally, how were these guys still standing?

“I can’t explain it other than our guys are digging in as deep as they can, calling on all the resources we have,” Coach Herb Sendek said.

The Wolfpack (16-13) won for the third time in three days with a bench as thin as single-ply tissue. North Carolina State had to survive a Thursday night “play-in” just to get a shot at top-seeded Duke, which it upset Friday, and Maryland.

The Wolfpack starting five averaged 37.06 minutes in three games, led by an inexhaustible freshman point guard, Justin Gainey, who played all 120 possible minutes.

The irony was that two crucial points in the Wolfpack victory were scored by reserve forward Luke Buffum, a walk-on from Beverly Hills High, who came in shivering cold off the bench and sank two clutch free throws to give his team an eight-point lead with 2:15 left.

Buffum was only in the game because starter Ishua Benjamin had fouled out seconds earlier.

“I was kind of shocked when he fouled out,” Buffum said, “but I didn’t have much time to think about it.”

Buffum stepped to the line having made three of nine free throws attempts . . . for the season. Yet each of his foul shots rippled the nets softly, an indication that this Wolfpack run was officially magical.

Maryland (21-10) cut the lead to four with 1:20 left, but Jeremy Hyatt answered by making a jump shot as the shot clock wound down.

After another Maryland score, Danny Strong made two free throws with 29 seconds left. Maryland’s Laron Profit made one last stab, making a three-pointer to cut the lead to 61-58, but C.C. Harrison made two more foul shots with 14 seconds left to clinch the victory.

After starting the ACC regular season 0-8, and finishing 4-12, North Carolina State can now win the conference’s automatic NCAA bid with another improbable victory today against North Carolina, which won its 11th consecutive game and is arguably the hottest team in the country.

“It’s hard to believe, very hard to believe,” Hyatt said of his team’s play of late. “It was meant to be. We’re here for a reason. I honestly believe that.”

Before you count the Wolfpack out, consider that it lost two regular-season games to the Tar Heels this season by a total of four points.

If North Carolina Coach Dean Smith is thinking he can wear the Wolfpack out with sheer numbers, he might want to reconsider.

Duke ran 10 players at North Carolina State and lost by six. Maryland tried to pressure the Wolfpack all over the court and lost by seven.

It was the Wolfpack that exhausted the Terrapins, beating their press with patience and a few Princeton-esque back-door plays.

Harrison, a junior guard who scored 28 points in Friday’s victory over Duke, had 24 points and eight rebounds against Maryland.

Harrison was one of three Wolfpack starters who played 40 minutes, and one of three who said he could have played 40 more if necessary.

Wasn’t he pooped?

“Not quite,” Harrison said. “We’ve done a good job resting, just chilling out when we get back to the hotel. Guys are being real mature about that.”

Hyatt, in fact, says he has spent the time between games off his feet, other than those requisite late night trips to the bathroom.

“I just lay on my bed, get fluids in me, get a nice meal and just watch basketball,” Hyatt said.

Hyatt would have been better off not watching North Carolina basketball. The Tar Heels continued their sizzling play of late in their victory over the Demon Deacons and are making a strong pitch for a No. 1 seeding in the NCAA Tournament.

Four Tar Heel starters scored in double figures, led by Shammond Williams’ 24 points.

North Carolina allowed Wake Forest center Tim Duncan his 33 points and 10 rebounds, but Duncan scored only four points in the final 13 minutes.

After the Tar Heels broke a 35-35 halftime tie with a 5-0 run to start the second half--all the points scored by Williams--they switched to a zone defense and dared Wake Forest to beat them from the outside.

“They have good zone shooters, I’m sure they’re all good shooters,” Smith said.

But not good enough. With Duncan swallowed in the zone, the Demon Deacons fired away, Jerry Braswell and Tony Rutland taking shots well beyond the three-point arc.

“I encouraged our perimeter shooters to shoot the ball,” Wake Forest Coach Dave Odom said. “I know we can shoot the ball better than we shot it.”

Braswell made one of four attempts. Forward Ricky Peral missed all three of his. And to show how out of whack the Wake Forest offense is of late, Rutland tried 14 three-pointers, making only five, and no other shots.

Wake Forest never recovered from a second-half sequence in which North Carolina scored on consecutive possessions after the Demon Deacons had cut the lead to 65-59.

With 5:13 left, Sean Allen fouled out trying to defend Antawn Jamison, who made the basket and the foul shot to put his team up, 68-59.

On the Tar Heels’ next possession, freshman point guard Ed Cato made a three-pointer to beat the shot clock.

Everything was going right. In the closing seconds, North Carolina senior center Serge Zwikker launched a three-point attempt from the corner.

It was the second three-point shot of Zwikker’s career.

And the first one he made.

“Who did we lose to today?” Odom asked. “We probably lost to the team that is playing maybe the best basketball in the country right now.”

No one would argue.