THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 9, 1996 TAG: 9603090571
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By Ed Miller
STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: GREENSBORO LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
The youthful Clemson Tigers became instant South Carolina folk heroes Friday night, stunning North Carolina 75-73 in an ACC tournament quarterfinal game at Greensboro Coliseum.
Clemson (18-10) won on a dunk by Greg Buckner over Antawn Jamison with 0.6 seconds to play.
Freshman Harold Jamison set up Buckner with a pass from the free throw line.
Clemson had not beaten North Carolina in the ACC tournament in 11 tries and the Tar Heels had won 33 of the their last 37 meetings overall against Clemson.
``We came in feeling like we needed to beat North Carolina to reach the NCAAs,'' Tigers coach Rick Barnes said. ``Maybe now we've got it.''
``At halftime, I put NCAA on the blackboard, and drew a line and put NIT on the other side. I said, `You can decide what side to be on.' ''
North Carolina (20-10) had reached the tournament final in eight of the previous nine years, including the last five straight.
Buckner and point guard Terrell McIntyre led Clemson with 20 points each. Jamison added 15.
The Tigers, who start four freshmen and a sophomore, trailed by nine at halftime but made up the gap quickly in the second half and stayed within a 3-point shot or two the rest of the way.
Clemson inched back behind McIntyre and took a pair of one-point leads, the last at 62-61 with 10:17 left, before North Carolina went on an 8-0 run and appeared in control.
Clemson trailed 73-67 when Harold Jamison cut the margin to two with a pair of offensive rebound baskets.
Buckner tied the game on a slam off a McIntyre miss with 1:05 left.
North Carolina had a chance to go ahead, but point guard Jeff McInnis threw the ball away with 26 seconds left and the shot clock running down.
McIntyre wound the clock down outside and was triple-teamed before he found Jamison inside the key. The freshman wheeled around and hit a streaking Buckner for the dunk.
McInnis led North Carolina with 22 points, but had just five in the second half. North Carolina failed to score in the game's final 5:55.
Clemson will meet Wake Forest in the second semifinal game today at 4 p.m. by CNB