Mar 13, 2019 4 min read

For the second time, North Carolina State waited until the last possible moment to beat Clemson.

Markell Johnson hit two free throws with 2.6 seconds left and the Wolfpack came from 18 down in the first half to beat the Tigers 59-58 in Wednesday’s second round of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.

The eighth-seeded Wolfpack (22-10), down 16 at the break, ended up with the second-biggest comeback from a halftime deficit in tournament history.

“We talked about halftime: it wasn’t about Xs and Os,” Wolfpack coach Kevin Keatts said. “It was about how much heart and desire and effort you would put into it. And I told them, I said: ‘If you played extremely hard, we’ll come out with a win.’ And these guys were special.”

The Tigers had a final chance after Johnson’s free throws, but Marcquise Reed’s heave from a few steps inside of halfcourt wasn’t close to end it.

At least the Tigers had a chance this time. The Wolfpack beat the Tigers on Braxton Beverly’s 3-pointer at the horn a little more than six weeks ago, then survived to win another tight one Wednesday that both teams needed to help their NCAA Tournament hopes as bubble teams.

Pac 12

USC 78, Arizona 65: Bennie Boatwright had 22 points and 11 rebounds, helping Southern California roll over Arizona 78-65 in the opening round.

The No. 8 seed Trojans (16-16) started slowly, but went on 18-2 runs in each half to earn a spot in Thursday’s quarterfinals against top-seeded Washington.

Derryck Thornton scored 12 points and USC shot 48 percent to bounce the ninth-seeded Wildcats from the Pac-12 tournament after losing to them in the title game a year ago.

ACC

Louisville 75, Notre Dame 53: Jordan Nwora had 24 points and nine rebounds, and Louisville notched its 20th win of the season defeating Notre Dame 75-53 in the second round.

Ryan McMahon added 12 points and Steven Enoch had 10 for the Cardinals (20-12), who’ll face No. 3 North Carolina for the third time this season in the quarterfinals on Thursday night.

Virginia Tech 71, Miami, Fla. 56: Kerry Blackshear had 19 points and 10 rebounds to help No. 16 Virginia Tech beat Miami 71-56 in the second round.

SEC

Auburn assistant suspended: Auburn has suspended assistant men’s basketball coach Ira Bowman indefinitely amid allegations that he was involved in a bribery scheme during his time at the University of Pennsylvania.

The university sent a statement Wednesday announcing the suspension, saying “we continue to gather information regarding a situation that recently arose.” Auburn didn’t elaborate on reasons for the suspension, but ex-Penn coach Jerome Allen implicated Bowman during testimony last week at a federal trial of a former health care executive.

Allen testified that after he left Penn in 2015, Bowman was aware of the alleged scheme to have a son of Miami businessman Philip Esformes on the Penn basketball team, according to reports. Bowman was a Penn assistant for six seasons.

Allen’s testimony was during a Medicare fraud case involving Esformes, but unrelated to the college admissions bribery case that was announced Tuesday. Esformes is on trial in Miami for an alleged scheme that included falsely billing Medicare for $1 billion.

Now an assistant with the Boston Celtics, Allen pleaded guilty last year to accepting about $18,000 in bribes from Esformes while at Penn. He testified that he received about $300,000 in bribes.

Auburn coach Bruce Pearl hired Bowman to replace Chuck Person, who was fired before last season and charged in an unrelated federal corruption case.