College Basketball

N.C. State collapses late vs. Saint Louis

ORLANDO, Fla. — North Carolina State barely snuck into the NCAA Tournament.

Now, the Wolfpack may have wished they’d never gotten in at all.

N.C. State may not even have been NIT-worthy three weeks ago, but on Thursday night, the Wolfpack were up 14 and were less than five minutes from their second NCAA Tournament win in three days.

Before it could take another step toward the Sweet 16, 12th-seeded N.C. State slowly choked away a certain second-round win at the foul line, falling 83-80 in overtime to fifth-seeded Saint Louis at the Amway Center.

“Well, it’s heartbreaking,” N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried said. “Obviously we’re going to always feel like we let one slip away.”

The Billikens (26-7), who trailed by as many as 16 in the second half, will play the winner of No. 4 Louisville/No. 13 Manhattan in the third round on Saturday.

N.C. State led nearly the entire game and looked like it was ready to finish the free-falling Billikens, who had lost four of their previous five games. But Saint Louis started fouling and N.C. State started missing, turning free throws into turnovers.

Though N.C. State sophomore T.J. Warren scored a game-high 28 points, he hit just 6-of-14 free throws, with the team missing 15 of its 29 attempts in the second half.

“You know, pressure is what you make it,” N.C. State junior Ralston Turner said. “I wouldn’t say the pressure made us miss the free throws. I don’t really have an answer as to why we missed them.”

Behind Rob Loe’s 22 points and 15 rebounds, Saint Louis cut the deficit to two in the final minute, with Jordair Jett (18 points) tying the game at 70 with 20 seconds left, but missing a free throw that would have given the Billikens the lead.

With Warren blanketed by the Saint Louis defense on the next possession, sophomore guard Tyler Lewis missed his “One Shining Moment” by inches, as his mid-range jumper rattled in and out at the buzzer.

Saint Louis never trailed in the overtime, but nearly found itself tied after a Warren steal and layup with 37.9 seconds left. However, the star sophomore missed the tying opportunity at the foul line.

With Warren fouled out, Desmond Lee missed a game-tying drive and Turner missed a game-tying 3-pointer on consecutive possessions, somehow handing Saint Louis the improbable win.

“That’s probably the weirdest turn of events that I’ve ever been a part of,” Loe said. “We just didn’t want to give up. We didn’t want to end on that kind of note. We didn’t want to bow out of the tournament this early. We wanted to win. We’re here to win, and we’re here to put our mark on basketball.”