Brandon Johnson's dramatic flush lifts Miami to 72-70 win over N.C. State

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CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — Brandon Johnson's putback slam with 1 second remaining lifted Miami to a 72-70 victory over N.C. State on Saturday in likely the last game of the season for both teams.

The Hurricanes led twice: when they scored first and when they scored last.

Although Miami hadn't led since it was 2-1 and trailed by 13 early in the second half, the Hurricanes got 3-pointers from Matthew Cleveland and A.J. Stanton-McCray to tie the score at 70 with 1:53 remaining.

Neither team scored again until Cleveland missed a well-contested layup and Johnson flushed the rebound with both hands to give Miami the lead with 1 second remaining.

Cleveland matched his season- and career-high with 32 points, Johnson had 10 points and 10 rebounds, and Jalil Bethea scored 10 points for Miami.

Dontrez Styles scored 24 points, Paul McNeil Jr. 14, and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield 10 for N.C. State.

A four-point run by Marcus Hill helped the Wolfpack take a 19-10. They led 41-31 at the break and by 13 when Styles opened the second half with a 3-pointer. The Wolfpack led by single digits for about 14 minutes in the second half before going scoreless over the final 3 1/2 minutes.

The dramatic win comes just two days after Jai Lucas was hired to coach the Hurricanes. He comes to Miami after spending the past three seasons at Duke, where he served as associate head coach for two seasons and as an assistant coach for one. He will be introduced at a press conference on Monday.

Neither team qualified for the 15-team ACC Tournament. N.C. State (12-19, 5-15 ACC) finished in no better than a tie for 16th and Miami (7-24, 3-17 ACC) finished last in the 18-team conference.

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