Wake Forest Bows In Ot To N.C. State

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The refs blew another one in the ACC and this time it shuffled the league standings.

North Carolina State stunned No. 2 Wake Forest when Clint Harrison was given credit for a 3-pointer at the buzzer in overtime - even though his foot was inside the arc - for a 60-59 victory Sunday.

“I haven’t seen a replay and I don’t want to,” a jubilant Harrison said. “It was a tough call for the referees to make, and I’m sure they used the best judgment they could.”

Television replays showed Harrison launched the shot for the visitors in time but that his left foot was clearly touching the line. Officials Sam Croft, Raymie Styons and Mike Wood looked at each other, agreed it was a 3-pointer and ran off the floor, letting the Wolfpack players pile on each other in a wild celebration near the basket where Harrison banked in the winner from the left wing.

It marked the second Atlantic Coast Conference game in five days in which a blown late-game call by officials helped decide the outcome. Duke defeated Virginia 62-61 Tuesday night after the officials mismanaged the clock and an attempted substitution in the closing seconds. The ACC suspended the three officials involved in that incident for one game each.

“It’s not just what we did today, but what this team has done each step along the way,” first-year Wolfpack coach Herb Sendek said after N.C. State (10-12, 2-11) won for the first time in nine league road games. “This team has worked very hard to get to the spot that they reached today.”

Wake Forest (20-3, 9-3) fell one-half game behind league leader Duke (21-5, 10-3) despite getting 25 points and 18 rebounds from Tim Duncan.

“This is a difficult loss, but nobody died,” said coach Dave Odom, whose Demon Deacons have won the last two ACC titles. “What you do is try to regroup. We have a difficult assignment going to Chapel Hill on Wednesday, but I guarantee you this team will be ready.”

(13) New Mexico 57, Tulsa 51

Charles Smith gave another huge performance in a big game, scoring 18 points and hitting two free throws with 12.5 seconds left as the Lobos (20-4, 9-3 Western Athletic Conference) beat the visiting Golden Hurricane (19-7, 9-3).

The victory gave New Mexico its eighth 20-win season in the past nine years and ran the nation’s third-longest homecourt winning streak to a school record-tying 25 straight games.

Indiana 84, (14) Michigan 81 (OT)

Freshman A.J. Guyton scored 31 points as the visiting Hoosiers (20-7, 7-6 Big Ten) stormed back from an 18-point halftime deficit and beat the Wolverines (17-7, 7-5).

(18) Villanova 75, Notre Dame 70

Alvin Williams scored 25 points and Tim Thomas added 22 as the Wildcats (18-7, 9-5 Big East) held off the visiting Irish (12-10, 6-8) for its first win in two weeks.

Memphis 62, (23) Tulane 56

Sunday Adebayo, not expected to play because of a torn ligament, scored 22 points as the visiting Tigers (13-12, 7-4 Conference USA) overcame the Green Wave (16-9, 7-3).