NC State Miraculously Beats Clemson 69-67 on Buzzer Beating Three by Braxton Beverly

I’m not sure what the odds are of winning a game when you are down by 6 points with 24 seconds left, but it can’t be good.

Whoever cared about the odds anyway.

Redshirt Sophomore Braxton Beverly hit a buzzer beating three-pointer from what seemed like a mile away.

BRAXTON BEVERLY BEATS THE BUZZER! 🚨 @PackMensBball pic.twitter.com/yyKRkki9oG

— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) January 26, 2019

Despite getting behind early in the 1st half, NC State led for over half of the first period (11:27), and went into halftime up 30-24.

Redshirt Junior CJ Bryce was the player of the first half, posting 10 points (4-6 FG/2-2 3PT) and 6 rebounds. He finished the game with 15.

Despite building a 9-point lead 4 minutes into the 2nd half, the Wolfpack allowed Clemson to go on a massive run, which included a 12-0 run, resulted in them tying the game with 8:14 left, and taking the lead with 6:59 left.

Honestly, a lot of that run was painful to watch. The shot selection by the Pack was poor, and they had no offer for Tigers big man Elijah Thomas, who finished with 18 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocks.

The Wolfpack fanbase has been eagerly awaiting the return of Junior Markell Johnson, and their favorite version of him showed up…”2nd half Markell.” Johnson finished with a team high 16 points, and 14 of them came in the 2nd half. He by no means was lacking in confidence, hitting 3 of his 6 three-point attempts. He hit two of them with under 4 minutes to play, each time bringing his team back within 1-point.

Senior Torin Dorn hit a three of his own to make it a 1-point game with 2:25 left.

When Marquise Reed missed a three-point attempt with 1:55 left, NC State had a chance to grab the rebound and go down and take the lead for the first time since the 8:14 mark. Unfortunately, no one thought about boxing out Clyde Trapp, who proceeded to grab the offensive board, miss a layup, rebound his own shot, miss another layup, grab another one of his shots, and finally making his 3rd layup attempt.

Markell Johnson forced a three-pointer from the corner at the end of the shot clock, trying to draw contact with 1:16 left.

Reed hit a jumper with 51 seconds left to put the Tigers up by 5.

Dorn missed a 3-point attempt with 40 seconds left.

That’s when things began to get interesting.

Clemson utterly choked, hitting 2 of 8 free throw attempts in the final 35 seconds.

That includes Marcquise Reed, who led the Tigers with 19 points, missing 4 consecutive free throws in the final 13 seconds.

Which led to this…

.@BBeverly10 beautiful pic.twitter.com/l6O4XzKxJu

— NC State Men’s Bball (@PackMensBball) January 26, 2019

Dearest Mother,

Splash.

— Captain Braxton Beverly (@CaptBeverly) January 26, 2019

That three-pointer was Beverly’s only one of the day. He missed his first 4 attempts.

This was the type of win, as ugly as it was, that can propel a team forward with an elevated since of confidence and unity. With this always in the back of their minds, they will always know that the game is never over.

As someone named Valvano from NC State famously said.

“Don’t give up…don’t ever give up.”

The Wolfpack is now 16-4, and 4-3 in conference play.

They will host #3 Virginia on Tuesday night at 7pm.