On a designed full-court inbounds play, Grant caught a baseball pass, emerged from a tussle and got fouled by Villanova forward Dante Cunningham with .4 seconds left while throwing up a wild air ball from behind the arc.

"I caught it, and I just turned," Grant said of the final play, in which he got open off a back screen. "I knew I was close to the three-point line. I knew I was in range. When I went low, he bumped me, so I shot it."

But Grant gave hope to No. 20 Villanova (4-1) by bouncing his first free throw off the side of the rim.

"I've been shooting free throws terrible this weekend," said Grant, who made 8-of-14 free throws in the tournament before going to the line for the final time. "I know I'm a good free-throw shooter."

The second and third free throws proved Grant's proclamation, as both swished smoothly.

Grant celebrated by crossing his hands to make an 'X' toward Villanova's players, but in his mind he was thinking about what happened a week ago when New Orleans stunned N.C. State in a 65-63 upset.

"I was relieved because we didn't have to have one of those practices again," Grant said. "After that New Orleans game, we had a track practice. I was just happy for me and my teammates that we didn't have to go through that again."

Grant, a senior forward, finished with 15 points and eight rebounds.

Before he sealed it, the teams traded the lead 18 times, and it looked as if Villanova would escape with the win when Cunningham banked a put back with 2.2 seconds left.

Cunningham had left the game briefly with a cut over his left eye that forced him to switch from a blood-stained No. 33 jersey to an unnamed No. 31 shirt.

It looked like he would be the hero when his tip-in put Villanova up 68-67, and all N.C. State had left was a desperation inbounds play with 2.2 seconds left.

Come on, 2.2 seconds. That's not enough time to get off a decent shot, right?

"I watch too much TV to know that's not true," said point guard Scottie Reynolds, Villanova's lone representative on the all-tournament team. "Usually when something like that happens, you think of the Christian Laettner shot."

What the Wildcats should have been thinking about was keeping their hands off Grant, whose wild shot would have had a very slim chance of going in if Cunningham had backed off.

"We always talk about not fouling a jump shooter," Villanova coach Jay Wright said. "It's something you talk about all the time."

Villanova played without forward Shane Clark for the entire second half. Clark went down late in the first half with a strained quad, and his status going forward is unknown, Wright said.

Clark is the team's second leading scorer behind Reynolds and the top rebounder, so losing him for an extended period of time is a big concern.

But Villanova is not about to make excuses.

"Obviously, a great college game," Wright said. "I give N.C. State credit. They played right to the final second, that's what you've got to do. It's a 40-minute game."

Guard Courtney Fells, the tournament MVP, paced the Wolfpack with 21 points while J.J. Hickson added 15 points and six rebounds off the bench.

N.C. State coach Sidney Lowe would not speculate on when Hickson's punishment for breaking a team rule will end so that he can return to the starting lineup.

Lowe was too busy enjoying the win instead.

"These guys here, they never quit," Lowe said. "They never stopped playing when Villanova made their run. They just kept going. They wanted it. These guys wanted it bad."

Player of the Game: Villanova guard Corey Fisher. I know, I know, he played on the losing team. But Fisher, just a freshman, stepped up huge when Shane Clark went out and came off the bench for a career-high 21 points in 32 minutes. If Clark is to miss any significant time, expect Fisher to get the load of his minutes.

Play of the Game: The final inbounds pass. It had the makings of a Christian Laettner-type play, but Gavin Grant was fouled while throwing up a three-pointer.
Grant would miss the first free throw but made the final two shots to seal the crazy win.

Up Next: Villanova hosts Penn on Saturday while N.C. State travels to No. 10 Michigan State for a Wednesday game as part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.