Having already dropped three straight including a maddening home loss against Clemson three days earlier, North Carolina State could not afford to stumble once more against another ACC bottom feeder on Sunday afternoon.
The Wolfpack barely avoided that fate thanks to late-game heroics from wing Trevor Lacey.
Two missed free throws from Georgia Tech's Quinton Stephens with 4.9 seconds left in overtime gave NC State life entering its final possession. Lacey then pushed the ball up court, pulled up from behind the top of the key and buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Wolfpack a much-needed 81-80 victory over the ACC's last-place team.
NC State only managed to force overtime when it benefited from a questionable call in the final seconds of regulation. Marcus Georges-Hunt attacked the rim from the left wing and drew contact with the score tied and just a few ticks left on the clock, but referees ruled that NC State's BeeJay Anya had drawn a charge even though he did not appear to have his feet set.
Controversial or not, NC State will gladly take a win that improves its record to 14-9 overall and 5-5 in the ACC. Even with a huge win over Duke on their resume, the Wolfpack might not have been able to recover from losing to woeful Georgia Tech with tough games against Virginia, North Carolina, Louisville and Syracuse still remaining on their schedule.
Instead NC State is on pace to be where it usually is on Selection Sunday: Sweating out its NCAA tournament fate on the bubble. The Wolfpack have slipped into the NCAA tournament as a No. 11 seed, a No. 8 seed and a No. 12 seed each of the past three seasons despite amassing double-digit losses each year.
If NC State sneaks in again this year, it may look back to Lacey's shot on Saturday as a big reason why. One thunderbolt of a jump shot turned a terrible loss into a season-altering win.
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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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