March 15, 2003

Wake Forest beat North Carolina State a week ago to win the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season title outright for the first time since 1962.

Now, the ninth-ranked Demon Deacons will look to beat the Wolfpack for the ninth straight time Saturday, and move one step closer to their first ACC tournament title since winning consecutive championships in 1995-96.

Even with Josh Howard struggling, top-seeded Wake Forest (24-4) beat Florida State 69-61 on Friday to advance to this semifinal matchup. Howard went 7-of-15 from the field, but missed all three of his 3-pointers to finish with 17 points.

With Florida State keeping it close for the first 30 minutes, Howard scored on consecutive baskets as Wake Forest scored on five straight trips to take control of the game.

He scored on an off-balance pump-fake in double coverage, then nailed a 12-foot jumper to give Wake Forest a 58-52 lead with 5:51 to play - the Deacons' first comfortable margin.

"You know, he doesn't dress in a phone booth," Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser said. "But in my opinion, he's the Player of the Year in the country ... and he's still the unanimous vote on this team on who would take the last shot."

With Howard struggling, Wake Forest's youngsters picked up the slack. Freshman Justin Gray had 15 points, sophomore Vytas Danelius added 14 and sophomore Jamaal Levy added 12 rebounds for Wake Forest, which won for the 12th time in 13 games.

The Wolfpack (17-11) are just trying to improve their chances of earning an invitation to the NCAA tournament. Josh Powell had 18 points and Scooter Sherrill and Marcus Melvin added 15 each as North Carolina State beat Georgia Tech 71-65 on Friday.

"Every game we've had for the last two weeks has been like a must-win game," North Carolina's Julius Hodge said.

"We knew if we wanted to have any kind of great postseason chances we would have to win - and we got it done. We really played with urgency."

N.C. State improved to 6-1 in opening tourney games under coach Herb Sendek as it advanced to the ACC semifinals for the fourth time in five seasons.

"Many teams get knocked out in the first round in tournaments, you've seen it across the nation. But our guys really focus on these first games," said senior point guard Clifford Crawford.

"You can't play in the championship game if you don't win the first game of the tournament."

The Wolfpack, in a month-long shooting slump from beyond the arc, made 11-of-21 3-pointers while shooting 50 percent from the field.

Wake Forest has won eight straight meetings with N.C. State, including a 78-72 triumph at Raleigh, N.C. in the regular season finale last Saturday. Howard had 27 points on 8-of-10 shooting for the Deacons.