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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Richard Howell has been a solid, if often overlooked, part of North Carolina States resurgence this season. Broncos Demaryius Thomas Jersey . On Friday, he decided to step into the spotlight. Howell doubled his average, scoring 22 points, and 11th-seeded North Carolina State used its muscle inside and a sticky defence to upset San Diego State 79-65 in the second round of the Midwest Regional. "None of us had ever played in a game like this," Howell said. "This gave us a big confidence boost." The 6-foot-8, 250-pound Howell got the Wolfpack (23-12) off on the right foot with 15 first-half points, carrying them into a showdown with No. 3 seed Georgetown on Sunday at Nationwide Arena. "In todays game, we felt we could have success around the basket," first-year coach Mark Gottfried said. "We made the decision to go toward Richard, and he lit up like a Christmas tree." It was easy to see that the Wolfpack had a size advantage on the surprising Aztecs (26-8), who were back in the tournament despite losing four starters from last years squad that lost to eventual champion Connecticut.in the regional semifinals. But what the Wolfpack -- and Howell in particular -- did in the paint was almost scary to watch. "Its one thing to be big," San Diego State coach Steve Fisher said. "Its another thing to be big and good. And they were big and good. Obviously, Richard Howell was great for them and got them out of the gate. He was fantastic." Lorenzo Brown added 17 points, C.J. Leslie 15 and Scott Wood 10 for the Wolfpack, who are now 12-5 in their first NCAA games. North Carolina State has won at least a game in seven of its last eight trips. Its been a remarkable turnaround for the Wolfpack under Gottfried. Theyve improved by eight wins over last season, which ended with the firing of coach Sidney Lowe, and they made it to the NCAA tournament despite losing four in a row in February. Howell, averaging 10.7 points a game, hit 7 of 9 shots -- including some where he stepped outside to pour in jumpers. "He does it all the time in practice," said Brown, who also chipped in with eight assists. "Im just glad he was hitting good shots. He was just feeling it, I guess." Jamaal Franklin had 23 points and Chase Tapley 19 for the Aztecs (26-8), regular-season champs of the Mountain West. "I could have seen us going farther," Franklin said. "Thats why Im disappointed." Up by four at the break thanks to Howell, the Wolfpack didnt let up. Woods 3-pointer from the right corner pushed the lead to 43-36. Howell scored his final points on a spin move that he turned into a three-point play with 10:08 left that gave the Wolfpack a 57-50 lead. On that same play, he drew a fourth foul on the Aztecs best big man, Tim Shelton. Still, with the Aztecs scoring on five consecutive possessions, they drew to 57-54. Gottfried called a timeout to talk to his troops, and it apparently worked. "Weve been through a lot this year," Brown said. "Weve played a lot of great teams, like Syracuse and North Carolina and teams like that. Coming down to the end, we made big shots." They did once again. Out of the timeout, CJ Williams hit a short jumper. After a San Diego State miss, Brown made a 14-footer with a hand in his face for a 61-54 lead. After Garrett Green dunked for the Aztecs, the Wolfpack came right back with back-to-back baskets to get some breathing room. First, Leslie dribbled laterally to the lane and pulled up to hit a 12-foot jumper. The Aztecs missed, then DeShawn Painter had the first of his two huge plays. He hit a fade from the left baseline for a 65-56 lead. He later added a three-point play to push the lead to 68-58. The Wolfpack, a popular choice to pull the upset, will have a hard time sneaking up on anyone else. "I have believed if they did things the right way, if they played good defence and executed at the right times, they had a chance," Gottfried said. Plus, they also had a secret weapon. "I didnt want this to be our last game," Howell said. Authentic Eric Decker Jersey . 2 spot after suffering its first loss of the season on Saturday. Kansas State, the nations No. 1 team according to the computer composites, was the beneficiary of Floridas setback against Georgia, as the Wildcats pulled behind the Crimson Tide in the polls latest release. White Peyton Manning Jersey . It was the 26-year-old Monfils first match since he lost to American player Brian Baker at the Open de Nice in May. The former Metz champion hit 21 aces as he won in a little more than an hour to set up a match against either countryman Nicolas Mahut or Daniel Brands of Germany. http://www.nflbroncosgearshop.com/elvis-dumervil-jersey/ . Canadas captain at the IIHF World Hockey Championship stood up and took the blame Thursday after a 4-3 quarter-final loss to Slovakia that sent the team packing early for the third straight year. Peyton Manning Vapor Jersey . 20 teams are 1-1, set to either move forward or fall below .500 this week. Willis McGahee Jersey . Nyhaug, who is easily Canadas best BMX racer, is an obvious choice for the Olympic nomination. But his dreams of competing in London were put on hold after a crash at the World Cup Supercross in Papendal, Netherlands, in May threw everything into question. BOSTON -- Rajon Rondo delivered the trash talk at halftime and the big plays in overtime. And after one final defensive stand -- maybe assisted by a Garden ghost -- the Boston Celtics were two wins away from an improbable chance to play for another championship. Rondo had 15 points and 15 assists, and scored the final three points of the Celtics 93-91 overtime victory over the Miami Heat on Sunday night that evened the Eastern Conference finals at two games apiece. Getting a huge break when LeBron James fouled out for the first time since joined the Heat, the Celtics recovered after blowing an 18-point lead in regulation and moved two games away from a third trip to the NBA finals in five years. Garnett added 17 points and 14 rebounds for the Celtics, while Paul Pierce scored 23 points before fouling out. Ray Allen finished with 16 points. "Stops," Rondo said when asked what was the difference in the tight game. "I think we executed offensively, came up with some lucky plays and we got stops at the end." James had 29 points and Wade scored 20 after another dismal start for the Heat, who host Game 5 on Tuesday. "Not stressed the series is tied 2-2," James said. "Its great basketball, great competition. We wanted to get one up here and we didnt." In a game that started as a Celtics blowout and turned into a foul- and tension-filled fourth quarter, followed by the second overtime in this series, the Celtics held on when Wade missed a potential winning 3-pointer on the last possession. "It was a good look. It was online but didnt want to go in," Wade said. "Got the shot off I wanted and that is all you can ask for." Celtics coach Doc Rivers had his own unusual reasoning for Wades oh-so-close shot. "Red wasnt going to let that go in. Not in the Boston Garden," he said of former coach Red Auerbach. Mickael Pietrus drew James sixth foul and grabbed two huge offensive rebounds that extended consecutive possessions for the Celtics, who lost Game 4 in overtime in a second-round series against the Heat last year with a chance to tie the series. This time, they overcame their second-half stall on the offensive end by limiting the Heat to just one basket in overtime, by Udonis Haslem, who finished with 12 points and 17 rebounds. "At the end you have a chance to win after 50-plus minutes and losing the MVP. Hey, youll take that," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. Rondos layup gave the Celtics a 92-91 lead with 2:34 left, and neither team scored again until he made a free throw with 21 seconds to play. Wade, already finding it tough to locate any room with Chris Bosh out and then having to do it James also on the sideline, saw his potential winning attempt bounce off the rim as time expired. "I dont ever think Ive seen that before," Allen said of James and Pierce fouling out. "But Rondos on the floor, Im on the floor, Kevins on the floor, Wades on the floor. All that has to happen at that point is the game has to be won. We dont care what it looks like. We had plenty." In what could have been the final Beantown game for the Celtics Big Three, Boston scored 61 points in a sensational first half that concluded with some televised trash talk from Rondo. But the Celtics managed only 12 points in the third quarter, and Wade finally got going after managing just eight points on 2-of-11 shooting in the first half. "Our execution in the first half was flawless," Rivers said. "It was as good as maybe weve had. And then we just got away from it." With the Celtics down by two, Pierce and Rondo made consecutive layups for an 85-83 edge with 3:08 to go in regulation. But with the Celtics up three, they lost James, who was wide open with plenty of time to set himself for a 3-pointer that evened it at 89 with 37. Ronnie Hillman Jersey. .5 seconds left. Garnett was called for an offensive foul on the next possession, giving the Heat the ball back with 21 seconds left. But they passed it around too long, leaving them with a long forced attempt from Haslem that was well off before the buzzer. The videoboard kept encouraging fans to get louder, as if they needed any prompting in what could have been the final time they got to watch the Big Three together. Fans who left and stayed away for years during the Celtics lean years started coming back in the 2007-08 season after Garnett and Allen were traded to Boston to form join an All-Star trio with Pierce, the Garden almost always full as the Celtics won a championship, played in two finals and returned the franchise back to its traditional place atop the East. But the aging group was nearly broken up when the Celtics sputtered through the first half of the shortened season, and it seems doubtful theyll be back together after this season. The fans grew even louder when the Celtics ran out to a 14-4 lead after consecutive 3-pointers by Pierce and Allen. The Celtics went to Garnett for their next two baskets, pushing it to 18-4, and when Pierces 3-pointer made it 21-6, it was the third time in four games they had a lead of at least 15 points. And after leading the Celtics to the highest-scoring half the Heat have surrendered this post-season, Rondo even fired a shot at the visitors, saying in his televised halftime interview what was working for Boston was the Heat "complaining and crying to the referees in transition." The feisty point guard didnt back down after the game, either. "What I said was true," Rondo said. "I dont take back what I said. Thats what it is." It was so hard for the Heat early that James didnt even make his first basket -- the Celtics accidentally tipped in his miss, and it was credited to him as the closest player. But Miami finally got untracked when Garnett left for a rest, getting a number of easy baskets to get within six before the Celtics regained control and went ahead 34-23 after one. The Celtics made 16 of their first 25 shots and seemed intent on outhustling the Heat to the ball on the rare times they did miss. And the Heat, who insisted they would be more aggressive, didnt shoot their first free throw until James was fouled while making a basket with 6:53 remaining in the first half. Boston pushed the lead to 18 when Pierce shook off a foul and tossed in a long, one-legged jumper with 3:12 left in the second quarter, and the Celtics were ahead 61-47 at the break. The Celtics averaged 89.1 points on 44 per cent shooting in an ugly second-round survival against Philadelphia, then managed a measly 79 points in the opener of this series, the old guys looking like their best basketball was well behind them. They seemed to have solved their offensive woes, then managed only 12 points in the third quarter, losing Rondo along the way to his fourth foul. It was down to 73-68 after three, and the Heat tied it for the first time when James layup made it 74-all with 8:54 remaining. Norris Coles layup on the next possession gave Miami the lead for the first time and it stayed tight from there. NOTES: Bosh missed his ninth straight game with a lower abdominal strain. Spoelstra said his status is still out indefinitely. ... The Heat changed centres again, starting Joel Anthony. ... James said theres no playoff silence or anything else behind his absence from Twitter. James, who has more than 4.6 million followers, hasnt posted on the site since April 27, the day before the playoffs began. "My fans, Im still with them, but I havent been on there," he said. ' ' '