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RALEIGH — Tracy Smith had been staring at a double-digit deficit for much of the game, and with 40 seconds to play Saturday, he beheld something that nearly made him grin in mid-pass. N.C. State had shaved a 21-point first-half deficit to one, and there was teammate Richard Howell seemingly open in the low post.

"My eyes were big," Smith said. "I saw Rich. We were going to take the lead."

But while Howell was taking off from the block painted on the court, Clemson's Jerai Grant was plotting a different kind of block: the one that spelled rejection for the Pack in a 73-70 loss to the Tigers.

"We couldn't let that first-half lead go to waste," Grant said.

The Pack held the Tigers to one field goal in the final 9:14 to put itself in this spot and wipe out a bizarre 13-minute stretch of the first half. Because of its own turnovers and Clemson fouls, N.C. State attempted only one field goal in that span.

With Tiger point guard Demontez Stitt knocked out by a sprained ankle for the final 14 minutes, Clemson lacked a creative presence to bail it out of possessions gummed up by State's defensive grit. And so in the final minute, the Pack had the ball down 71-70. Howell, a freshman enjoying a 13-point day, took up residence down low and Smith, the attention-grabbing if undersized center, flashed high.

When Howell took the pass, he was one-on-one with Grant. These are less than ideal conditions for a game-saving block. Clemson, like most teams, gets most of its rejections from help-side defenders rather than the guy directly engaging the dunk-seeking ball-handler. The on-ball defender hopes he can slow and detour the offensive move well enough to set up a swat. Not this time.

"There was no way I could get to (Howell)," said Trevor Booker, the Tigers' diligent senior center.

There's another, seldom spoken truth to this deal. If isolated, the defender has less chance than normal to escape without a whistle.

"It's an effort play," Clemson coach Oliver Purnell said. "You have to have courage and energy and will to go get it."

The block, Grant's third of the day, was clean. It elicited barely a whimper from the courtside-occupying Pack fans, many of whom had expressed their disdain for the work of officials Jamie Luckey, Ray Natili and Tim Kelly throughout the day.

"Grant made a great play," Smith said. "The guy came out of nowhere."

Tanner Smith's subsequent free throws for the Tigers made it a three-point game, and Julius Mays' game-tying attempts from downtown were barely off.

Clemson, which beat No. 12 North Carolina on Wednesday, ended a 13-game losing streak in games immediately following victories over rated foes. The Tigers haven't trailed in 118 minutes.

The Wolfpack failed to build on the momentum of the midweek win at Florida State but made a compelling run with Howell and sophomore Julius Mays doing the damage. Coach Sidney Lowe essentially benched Dennis Horner and Javier Gonzalez in the second half and discovered a weapon in Mays, whose slashing skill got him eight free-throw attempts, all of which he hit.

"The guys dug in, fought hard and came back," Lowe said. "A play here and a play there in a couple of games this year and our record is totally different."

CLEMSON (15-3) — Stitt 3-7 3-4 9, Smith 2-4 7-8 11, Potter 1-7 0-0 2, T.Booker 9-16 2-3 20, Grant 4-4 3-5 11, Johnson 3-7 0-0 7, Young 3-6 0-1 9, Jennings 0-0 0-0 0, D.Booker 1-1 2-2 4, Hill 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-53 17-23 73.

N.C. STATE (12-6) — Gonzalez 0-2 0-0 0, Degand 3-9 5-6 11, Wood 4-9 0-0 11, T.Smith 5-10 6-10 16, Horner 0-2 2-2 2, Howell 5-12 3-4 13, Vandenberg 0-0 0-0 0, Williams 0-1 0-0 0, Davis 0-0 0-0 0, Mays 4-9 8-8 17. Totals 21-54 24-30 70.

Halftime—Clemson 45-28.
3-point goals—Clemson 4-17 (Young 3-4, Johnson 1-4, T.Booker 0-1, Smith 0-1, Stitt 0-3, Potter 0-4), N.C. State 4-21 (Wood 3-8, Mays 1-5, Horner 0-1, Gonzalez 0-1, Howell 0-2, Degand 0-4).
Fouled out—None.
Rebounds—Clemson 28 (T.Booker, Smith 6), N.C. State 39 (Howell 12).
Assists—Clemson 11 (Smith 4), N.C. State 9 (Degand, Mays 3).
Total fouls—Clemson 20, N.C. State 20.
A—17,984.