The trend continues.

For the fifth time in seven games in this ACC Tournament, the underdog rose to smite a team supposedly its better. For the second time in two days, David wore Wolfpack red.

“We came here to win the tournament,” said junior Gavin Grant, who had 16 of his points in the second half and was a major factor in shutting down Virginia’s All-ACC guard, Sean Singletary. “We didn’t come here because we had to be in the tournament.”

N.C. State, the 10^th seed, improved its record to 17-14 with the 79-71 victory. This is the fifth time in the past seven seasons a Wolfpack squad reached the tournament semifinals, and the 49^th time in 54 years at least two teams from the Big Four (Duke, UNC, N.C. State and Wake Forest) advanced at least that far.

A Wolfpack win was difficult to imagine halfway through the game. UVa, which had swept N.C. State during the regular season, flowed to a seemingly comfortable 40-26 halftime lead, paced by 16 points from Singletary. The Pack rushed its shots, had as many turnovers as field goals, and generally looked out of sorts after upsetting Duke in overtime in the first round.

During intermission, coach Sidney Lowe challenged his team to be patient, execute its preferred game, and open the second half with a run.

The result, depending on how you look at it, was either a monumental rally by an overachieving squad or a stunning meltdown by the second-seed Cavaliers. Or both. One thing was certain: The halftime deficit overcome by the Wolfpack was the second-largest in ACC Tournament history.

“They never gave up, down 14, and as a result they put it to us,” said a glum UVa coach Dave Leitao, who had futilely laid a verbal lash to his players to extract a matching effort.

So thoroughly did N.C. State assert control, it made 73.9 percent of its second-half shots, its most efficient shooting performance in a period in any ACC Tournament game.

Six players shared all but seven minutes of the playing time for the Wolfpack, and each delivered impressively. Brandon Costner (22 points), Grant (20), Ben McCauley (12) and Engin Atsur (10) paced the scoring. McCauley also had a team-high six assists.

The unexpected hero, however, was walk-on senior Bryan Nieman, who has seen his playing time wax and wane like the moon. Against Virginia he played 21 minutes. “He was the X-factor tonight,” said Lowe, the MVP of the 1983 ACC Tournament as the point guard on an N.C. State squad that captured an improbable national championship.

Nieman, a former walk-on from Raleigh, entered the game hitting 22.7 percent of his 3-pointers, yet made his two attempts against UVa, both in the second half. Equally important, he contributed solid defense on the Cavs’ outstanding guards, Singletary (23 points) and J.R. Reynolds (11), who played despite a hip injury. Perhaps the key play of the game came when Nieman took a charge by Virginia’s Mamadi Diane with N.C. State ahead by a basket and 1:55 to go.

Leitao immediately ripped off his sports jacket in frustration, Grant launched a run of seven unanswered points in less than a minute and a half, and the Pack had lived to play another day.

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