updated 2:37 a.m. ET March 12, 2005

WASHINGTON - North Carolina State was told not to seek revenge against Wake Forest.

No one — particularly the Demon Deacons — could stop the Wolfpack from winning.

Julius Hodge led a balanced attack with 22 points and Ilian Evtimov added 18 points and seven assists, helping N.C. State upset No. 3 Wake Forest 81-65 Friday night in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

With the loss, Wake Forest might have blown their chance to earn at No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Wake Forest point guard Chris Paul was suspended for the game for punching Hodge in the groin during the teams’ previous meeting earlier in the week, giving this early round game the emotion and intensity of a Final Four. The referees seemed to sense that, too, so they made it a point to call touch fouls and to step in whenever there was contact.

“Anger is one letter short of danger,” Wolfpack coach Herb Sendek said. “It’s important to focus, not get angry. Our guys did a great job of coming together.”

In the first half, a technical foul was called on the Demon Deacons bench — apparently on one of the support staff — and later Wake Forest guard Justin Gray left for a bit after getting elbowed in the face by N.C. State’s Andrew Brackman. Amazingly, Gray was called for a foul.

“We were even warned about it during the game, so I think that opened our eyes a little bit more, saying, ‘Hey, we just need to be focused on the game and not get caught up in the physical aspects,”’ Wolfpack guard Cameron Bennerman said.

The Wolfpack will play Duke in the semifinals. The fifth-ranked Blue Devils beat Virginia 76-64 in the final game Friday night.

Paul sat beside the coaches at the head of the bench, looking very dapper in a three-piece, gold suit. He stood near his teammates during their pregame warmups and often offered encouragement or instruction during the game, but Demon Deacons (26-5) sure could have used him on the court, mostly on defense.

The Wolfpack (19-12) shot 51 percent and consistently beat defenders to the rim on backdoor cuts, with everybody getting a chance in their Princeton-style offense.

“Nobody’s left out,” Evtimov said. “Everybody touches the ball. If they don’t have the basket, they have the assist. If they don’t have the assist, they have the pass prior to the assist, which is just as important.”

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