THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 24, 1997 TAG: 9701240719
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CLEMSON, S.C. LENGTH: 59 lines
Clemson showed more class than poise Thursday night as it joined the ranks of the beaten in the ACC.
Wake Forest (14-1, 6-1 ACC) threw the league race into a virtual three-way tie with a 65-62 victory over Clemson, which had moved to No. 2 in the national rankings following the Deacons' loss on Sunday to Maryland.
Clemson, Maryland, and Wake Forest each have one league loss.
Behind 64-62, the Tigers (16-2, 5-1) had a chance to win or send the game into overtime until Andrius Jurkunas was called for charging with 4.5 seconds remaining.
The partisan crowd of 11,200 booed the call, but the Tigers did not protest.
``It was a good call,'' Clemson coach Rick Barnes said.
Still, it was close enough that Wake Forest's Tony Rutland admitted he didn't know which way the call would go after being jarred to the court by Jurkunas.
``I looked up and saw the signal for the charge. It was a good call,'' Rutland said. ``I stepped in front of him and he ran over me.''
Wake Forest, which dropped to fourth in the rankings after its Maryland loss, led most of the way in the first game ever played between top-four ranked teams in Littlejohn Coliseum.
Coach Dave Odom added a new dimension to his starting lineup by inserting 7-foot-1 freshman Loren Woods at strong forward to provide support to All-America center Tim Duncan.
Woods was effective offensively with his passes to Duncan, and the two were devastating defensively and on the glass.
Duncan had 16 points, 15 rebounds, and six blocks. Woods, in his first start, had nine points and nine rebounds.
The Deacons opened a 10-point lead with a 21-4 run late in the first half.
Clemson, after trailing 50-38 with 11:52 left, finally began to penetrate the Deacons' strong inside defense to get back into the game.
With Greg Buckner and Terrell McIntyre leading the charge, Clemson closed to 57-55 with 4:12 left.
Wake Forest, which had gone scoreless from the field for 8:22, got a big 3-pointer from Rutland with a minute left to push the lead to 62-57.
McIntyre hit a trey for Clemson at 15.1, though, to close the score to 63-62.
Clemson got the opportunity to salvage the victory when Duncan split a pair of free throws with 12.5 seconds left.
But Jurkunas, looking for an open man, slammed into Rutland for the charge.
``At the time I didn't think it was a good call, but I have to accept the referee's decision,'' Jurkunas said.
Wake Forest, which had made only 34 percent of its field goals in the last two games, hit 59.5 percent against the Tigers.
Rutland snapped out of his mild slump by hitting a trio of 3-pointers and provided 15 points. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS color photo
Clemson's Tom Wideman, left, and Wake Forest's Tim Duncan battle for
a rebound