GREENSBORO, N.C., March 8 -- Even while he was standing there, with nary a soul within five feet of him, Greg Buckner could hardly believe how wide open he was. His surprise grew even bigger when Harold Jamison got him the ball. 'My eyes were real big when Harold dished it to me,' Buckner said after he had thrown down a dunk with 0.6 seconds remaining Friday night. Buckner's heroics gave Clemson a dramatic 75-73 upset victory over No. 20 North Carolina, moving the Tigers into the semifinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. 'I hit a game-winning shot once in high school, but it wasn't a dunk,' Buckner mused. The Tigers (18-9) held North Carolina scoreless over the final 6:51 to claw back from an 11-point second-half deficit. The rally was crowned when Jamison, jumping from near the free-throw line, found Buckner all alone on the left block for a low pass and a two-handed jam. 'I saw Antawn (Jamison, North Carolina forward) coming and I thought he was going to foul me so I knew I was going to have to go with power and dunk it,' Buckner said. 'If he fouled me, I'd have to try to make the free throws. He didn't foul me and I dunked it.' Clemson thus advanced into a semifinal meeting Saturday night against 10th-ranked Wake Forest, a 70-60 victor over Virginia earlier in the evening. The Tigers' victory was even more monumental considering that three of the last four meetings between the teams have ended in hard feelings between North Carolina coach Dean Smith and Clemson's Rick Barnes.
The most recent was two weeks ago when Smith was summoned to ACC Commissioner Gene Corrigan's house and was reprimanded for unsportsmanlike conduct. 'Coming in we talked about how this was more than an ACC Tournament game,' Barnes said. 'We felt that if we could get a win over North Carolina it would put us in the NCAA Tournament and hopefully it has. I'm just very pleased with the way our guys maintained their poise and kept working at it.' After Buckner rammed the ball through the heart of the Tar Heels (20- 10), the two coaches met at center court to compliment each other. 'I would like to congratulate Clemson on a well-played game,' Smith said. 'I was impressed with our play in the first half, but we didn't play as well in the second. I was upset when we lost the ball twice on fast breaks.' Trailing 52-46 after North Carolina's Dante Calabria hit a three- pointer, Clemson's Tony Christie hit a bomb of his own to bring the Tigers within 52-49. Terrell McIntyre then made a steal and scored on a layup with 14:43 left. After Antawn Jamison scored to give the Tar Heels a 54-51 lead, Andrius Jurkunas tied the game at 54 when the Clemson big man hit a the- pointer from the top of the key at 13:52. Later in the half with the Heels leading 59-58, Clemson took the lead when Buckner banked in a 15-footer with 11:36 left. Thirteen seconds later, North Carolina's Vince Carter scored on a drive to put the Tar Heels ahead 61-60. Clemson regained the lead when Buckner drove down the lane at 10:17. That was before North Carolina went on a 7-0 run to lead 68-62. The Tar Heels led 73-69 before Clemson staged a big rally to tie the game 73-73 with 1:05 left. 'If you had told me in two years, based on where everyone thought the program was, that we would have a win over every team in the league, I would tell that I'm not sure it would happen,' Barnes said. 'A game like tonight was a big game because we haven't ever beaten North Carolina since I've been at Clemson.' Buckner and McIntyre scored 20 points each to lead the Tigers, followed by 15 from Harold Jamison and 12 from Jurkunas. McInnis led the Tar Heels with 22 points followed by Antawn Jamison's 19. Shammond Williams and Dante Calabria each had 10. 'I am disappointed in the loss, but we think we have more left in the season,' Smith said.
