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GREENSBORO, N. Eric Wood Authentic Jersey .C. -- With T.J. Warren scoring near his usual pace, North Carolina State was poised to pull off a second straight significant upset at the ACC tournament. Then the Wolfpack ran out of steam. No. 7 Duke beat N.C. State 75-67 on Saturday in the ACC semifinals, denying the Wolfpack a third win in three days. "They really believed we could win and they played with great courage," coach Mark Gottfried said. "I thought maybe we got tired in the second half. We didnt seem as fresh as we have been." Warren, the ACC player of the year, scored 21 points for N.C. State to 20 for Dukes Jabari Parker in a matchup of the ACCs top two scorers. Warren led the league with an average of 24.9 points while Parker was second at 19.2 points per game. On Saturday, Warren scored 21 points but was just 4 of 13 after halftime while facing a barrage of double teams. "Rodney (Hood) did a good job on him just to keep him to 21," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "You can overcoach, and we overcoached our preparation. He was doing what we asked him to do, and it wasnt working, and he said, Coach, let me just play him my normal way. That was better." The seventh-seeded Wolfpack (21-13) shot just 36 per cent in the second half -- after hitting 67 per cent in the opening half -- and were denied their first title game berth since 2007. "N.C. State was fighting for their lives," Dukes Rasheed Sulaimon said. Lennard Freeman had 13 points and Anthony "Cat" Barber finished with 12 for N.C. State, which for much of the day looked capable of pulling off a second straight resume-enhancing upset after knocking off No. 11 Syracuse in the quarterfinals. "I hope they take a look at our team and see how much better we are than we were at the beginning," Gottfried said. "If you win at Pitt, beat Syracuse and beat Duke, hell, youre about a Final Four team then. I think we showed that we certainly belong in the field of 68." Sulaimon added 16 points for the third-seeded Blue Devils (26-7) while Rodney Hood had 14 points and keyed the defensive effort against Warren. Duke earned its 31st championship game appearance and first since 2011. The Blue Devils will play No. 6 Virginia on Sunday. Dukes 69-65 win in January stood as the Cavaliers lone conference loss until Maryland beat them last week. Duke won on Saturday with a 20-7 run in the second half that was fueled by three N.C. State turnovers and a spate of missed shots. "Im not going to force it to get past two people," said Barber, who said he was double-teamed as well. "They just did a great job of defending. ... They just kept their composure throughout the game." Parker scored six points during the burst that pushed the Blue Devils lead into double figures for the first time. A botched lob to N.C. State big man Jordan Vandenberg led to an open court the other way for Parker, and his authoritative dunk over a sidestepping Barber made it 49-45 with 15 minutes left. Quinn Cook ended the run with a 3 that made it 61-49 with about 9 1/2 minutes remaining. "We got a lot of easy baskets from our defence, and once we got into a rhythm, our shots started falling down and we got rolling," Sulaimon said. N.C. State never could string together a game-threatening run after that, and the Wolfpacks best chance down the stretch came when they closed to 67-59 on Freemans jumper with about 3 minutes left. Hood missed the front end of a one-and-one but the rebound went to Parker -- who finished with a momentum-shifting dunk to put Duke back up by 10. Cook had 14 points for the Blue Devils, who gave N.C. State its most lopsided loss of the season in the teams only previous meeting -- a 95-60 thumping at Cameron Indoor Stadium in which Duke seemed content to let Warren score and clamp down on everyone else. At least early on Saturday, though, the Blue Devils once again couldnt stop anyone. N.C. State hit 13 of 15 shots over an 11-minute stretch and scored on 15 of 16 possessions, with the only empty trip in that span coming when Warren missed the front end of a one-and-one. "First half, neither team could stop one another," Krzyzewski said. "In the second half, we just played better defence." Jim Kelly Authentic Jersey . They did take one chance on a free agent-to-be however, and it didnt pay off. Rory Kohlert, selected by the Redblacks in the expansion draft from Winnipeg, has signed as a free agent with the Blue Bombers. Lee Smith Authentic Jersey . While Canadian women have stood on the Olympic podium in the sport, a Canadian man never has.NEW YORK -- Ben Scrivens made 37 saves in his second consecutive shutout, and Tyler Toffolis second-period goal held up as the winner as the Los Angeles Kings completed a successful Eastern road trip with a 1-0 victory over the New York Rangers on Sunday night. Dominic Moore thought he tied it with 2:41 remaining, but the goal was disallowed because he kicked it in with his right skate. Scrivens, filling in for injured regular Jonathan Quick, followed up a blanking of the New Jersey Devils on Friday with one against the Rangers. Los Angeles went 3-0-1 on the trip, winning the final three games. Scrivens has gone 156 minutes, 2 seconds without allowing a goal over three games since Aaron Ness of the New York Islanders scored in the second period of the Kings 3-2 win on Thursday. Los Angeles is 5-0-1 in its last six. Henrik Lundqvist stopped 29 shots in the hard-luck loss. The Rangers, 7-3 in their last 10, failed to follow up on their 1-0 win at Montreal on Saturday with backup Cam Talbot in net. New York dropped its second straight at home. Scrivens best stop came six minutes into the third period when his right arm stopped Mats Zuccarellos shot off a rebound in front. Toffoli broke the scoreless deadlock 1:23 into the second period with his fourth goal in just seven NHL games this season. Toffoli, who netted the winning goal late in regulation against the Islanders, cashed in again with some help from the Rangers. The 21-year-old centre spun and fired a shot from above the circles. Lundqvist slid to his right to get into position to make the save, but the puck hit the skate of New York defenceman Anton Stralman and caromedd to Lundqvists left and into the vacated part of the net. Thurman Thomas. Lundqvist thrust backward in the crease in disbelief and disgust as the Kings celebrated. The Kings needed a break to get a puck past Lundqvist, who appeared sharp after getting a game off. He kept the Rangers in it as Los Angeles held a 10-2 shots edge in the first half of the second period. During an extended flurry in front, Lundqvist made several in-close saves and was bailed out when one drive struck the left post behind him. The Rangers certainly had their chances at the other end against Scrivens, but he was also up to the task. New York had back-to-back scoring opportunities while short-handed, including a 2-on-1 break that failed to produce a shot. Then the Kings were called for three consecutive penalties midway through the second -- including a call for too many men on the ice and another for delay of game -- but New York couldnt take advantage despite having a pair of abbreviated 5-on-3 power plays. The Rangers goal at Montreal on Saturday was scored during a 5-on-3 advantage. NOTES: Scrivens has three shutouts this season and five in three NHL seasons. ... Toffoli has eight points and three game-winning goals. ... Rangers D Michael Del Zotto was a healthy scratch for the second straight game. New York went with 6-foot-5 defenceman Justin Falk against the big Kings lineup. ... New York LW Rick Nash missed his 17th game due to a concussion but is eyeing a return in the upcoming week. ... New York RW Derek Dorsett played in his 300th NHL game. ... Mike Richards, who assisted on Toffolis goal, has 10 points in seven games and 13 in 12 contests. ' ' ' |
