Raleigh, NC (U-WIRE) -- With sullen eyes and a curt answer for anything related to the controversy the ensued in Sunday night's N.C. State-Wake Forest basketball game, Wolfpack coach Herb Sendek looked like the walking definition of a defeated man.

As he exited the postgame interview room with his eyes fixed on the gray carpet, Sendek received a pat on the back from Athletics Director Lee Fowler.

After that kind of game, he needed any semblance of affection.

With its NCAA Tournament hopes wavering in the balance, the Wolfpack had its collective heart ripped out and stomped on by No. 4 Wake Forest (26-4, 13-3 ACC). The Demon Deacons overcame a three-point deficit in the final 24 seconds and escaped the RBC Center with a 55-53 win after star guard Chris Paul hit a floating eight-footer as time expired.

Paul's buzzer-beater came after Justin Gray hit a deep 3-pointer from the right wing with 12 seconds left, and the Wolfpack (17-12, 7-9) failed to draw rim on its subsequent possession, which turned the ball over to the Deacs with four seconds left. State guard Engin Atsur attempted a 19-footer that fell well short of the rim on that possession, prompting State coach Herb Sendek and much of the 19,082-member crowd groaning for a foul.

Atsur said he didn't want to comment on what happened on the final play.

"I'll have to watch the tape," he said.

That sequence was only the end to an emotion-filled night of controversy, which ultimately locked State into the No. 7 seed in this week's ACC Tournament. The Pack opens play against Florida State Thursday at 2:30.

With less than 12 minutes left in the first half, State guard Julius Hodge lay face-down in the Wake Forest paint holding his groin area. Replays show that Paul slugged him in the groin area while boxing out during a rebound. The incident caused Hodge's older brother Steve to momentarily come on the court to check on Hodge and yell at referee Jamie Luckie. Arena security then dismissed Steve Hodge from the building after Luckie immediately complained to Sendek, though he was later seen watching the outcome from the facility's concourse.

That wasn't the end of the drama, though. Less than four minutes later, the two got tangled up again, with Paul being whistled for a foul and Hodge a technical.

Hodge wouldn't say if he thought a suspension for Paul was imminent for the groin-area shot, but he did note he was suspended for a similar incident his freshman year at Maryland following a scuffle with Terp guard Steve Blake.

"He's a dirty player," Hodge said about Paul. "During my freshman year, I screwed up with Steve Blake, and I was suspended a game. I don't understand. I didn't go anything [to him].

After the game, Paul reiterated that the apparent punch wasn't intentional.

"I have too much respect for Julius Hodge to do something like that -- it was in the heat of the game," Paul said.

Sendek answered multiple questions about the incident with a similar response.

"The replay is going to have to speak for me tonight," Sendek said. "I'd prefer to talk about our team."

What Sendek was loquacious about was his team's defensive play in the second half, which helped to erase a double-digit second-half hole.

State held Wake to just a single field goal for almost 10 minutes following a Gray layup at the 17:20 mark. In that time span, State hit three 3-pointers and took its first lead since 2-0 when Ilian Evtimov sank a bucket with 10:20 left.

"Defensively, we were as good as anybody could be on a given night," Sendek said.

State failed to extend its lead with porous free-throw shooting, finishing 9-of-22 for the game.

"It's terrible for something we work on everyday in practice consistently," Tony Bethel said.

Bethel made 1-of-2 shots from the charity stripe with 24 seconds left before Gray's huge 3 set the stage for Paul's heroics, a vintage March scene reminiscent of UCLA guard Tyus Edney's baseline-to-baseline drive against Missouri in the 1995 NCAA Tournament.

"Thing like this happen in March, we just have to keep our heads up," Hodge said.

State will likely need at least two wins in the ACC Tournament to play its way into the field of 65, something that will likely have to be done without senior Jordan Collins. Sendek said Collins sustained a separated shoulder and will likely not be available for the ACC Tournament.

"It never makes any sense to try and talk your way in," Sendek said about his team's postseason fate.

And then he walked away from the microphone. He needed a hug. State needed a win.

Sunday night, neither party was rewarded.

(C) 2004 Technician via U-WIRE