North Carolina St. Gets Its Payback

North Carolina State was told not to seek revenge against Wake Forest.

No one -- particularly the Demon Deacons -- could stop the Wolfpack from winning at Washington.

Julius Hodge led a balanced attack with 22 points and Ilian Evtimov had 18 points and seven assists, helping the Wolfpack upset No. 3 Wake Forest, 81-65, Friday night in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

Wake Forest point guard Chris Paul was suspended for the game for punching Hodge in the groin during the Demon Deacons’ 55-53 victory on Sunday.

“Anger is one letter short of danger,” Wolfpack Coach Herb Sendek said. “It’s important to focus, not get angry. Our guys did a great job of coming together.”

Paul sat beside the coaches at the head of the bench. He stood near his teammates during their pregame warmups and often offered encouragement or instruction during the game, but the Demon Deacons (26-5) sure could have used him on the court, mostly on defense.

The Wolfpack (19-12) shot 51% and consistently beat defenders to the rim on backdoor cuts, with everybody getting a chance in their Princeton-style offense. They will play Duke, which beat Virginia, 76-64.

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No. 2 North Carolina 88, Clemson 81 -- Raymond Felton made the go-ahead three-point basket with the shot clock winding down in the last 90 seconds, and the Tar Heels (27-3) avoided the biggest upset in conference tournament history.

Since the conference expanded to nine teams in 1992 -- it since has gone to 11, and Boston College joins next season -- no ninth-seeded team had beaten a top-seeded team. The Tar Heels trailed the Tigers (16-15) by 13 points with about nine minutes left.

Felton had 24 of his career-high 29 points in the second half and scored the last 10 points for North Carolina. The Tar Heels will play fifth-seeded Georgia Tech (18-10), which beat Virginia Tech, 73-54.

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No. 5 Duke 76, Virginia 64 -- The third-seeded Blue Devils (23-5) advanced to the semifinals for the eighth straight season by breezing past the Cavaliers (14-15) despite a poor shooting performance by standout guard J.J. Redick.

Redick, who came in averaging 22.6 points, scored 15 points. He missed 11 of his first 12 shots and finished four for 17, including three for 12 from three-point range.

But Daniel Ewing and Lee Melchionni picked up the slack by scoring 16 points apiece, and Shelden Williams had 10 points and 12 rebounds.