RALEIGH, N.C. — C.J. Leslie and Richard Howell wanted this moment, the chance to help No. 20 North Carolina State make a big step forward after a bumpy start to a season filled with potential.

Now, after a rousing performance to take down No. 1 Duke, they have put the Wolfpack back on everyone’s radar.

Leslie scored 25 points, including six consecutive during a key second-half run, to help N.C. State beat the Blue Devils 84-76 on Saturday.

Howell added 16 points and 18 rebounds for the Wolfpack (14-2, 3-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) in a match up of the teams predicted to finish 1-2 in the league.

“Coach [Mark Gottfried] said in the locker room: Nobody’s going to give us anything and we’ve got to take it,” Howell said. “That’s the mindset we came out with. We’ve got to take everything ... and that’s what we did.”

N.C. State was picked for the first time in nearly four decades to win the league, though two early losses drained some buzz.

No longer. Any lowered expectations are gone along with Duke’s undefeated record.

“I thought our guys, they accepted the challenge,” Gottfried said. “It’s one of those [games] where it comes to a point where mentally you say, ‘I’m going to get it done’ and they’re not going to go away. ... They’re not going to lay down for us. Our guys mentally showed a lot of toughness.”

It was N.C. State’s first victory against the No. 1-ranked team since beating Duke here in February 2004 and its sixth overall.

Lorenzo Brown finished with 12 points and 13 assists for the Wolfpack, while senior Scott Wood added 14 with 3 three-pointers - including a four-point play in the first half.

Seth Curry scored 22 despite missing the final minutes with a left ankle injury for Duke (15-1, 2-1).

In other ACC games, Milton Jennings scored a season-high 21 points on five three-pointers and added 11 rebounds to give host Clemson (9-6, 1-2) its first Atlantic Coast Conference victory of the season, 59-44 over Virginia (11-5, 1-2). ... P.J. Hairston scored a career-high 23 points and visiting North Carolina (11-5, 1-2) defeated defending Atlantic Coast Conference champion Florida State 77-72, almost a year to day after suffering a 33-point loss against the Seminoles (10-6, 2-1). ... NCAA scoring leader Erick Green scored 28 points and Virginia Tech (10-6, 1-2) rallied for a 70-65 overtime victory over host Georgia Tech (10-5, 0-3) to end a four-game losing streak. ... C.J. Harris scored a career-high 29 points and host Wake Forest (9-6, 2-1) held off a late rally by Boston College (9-7, 1-2) for a 75-72 victory.

BIG EAST Notre Dame falls

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Shabazz Napier scored 19 points, Tyler Olander scored 12 of his career-high 16 points in the second half and Connecticut ended the game with a 7-0 run to beat No. 17 Notre Dame 65-58 Saturday, ending a 12-game winning streak by the Fighting Irish.

After Eric Atkins scored six consecutive points for the Irish to tie the score at 58-58 with a basket inside, Ryan Boatright made four consecutive free throws for Connecticut and DeAndre Daniels added a basket and a free throw to put the game away. The Huskies (12-3, 2-1Big East) are the only team to beat the Irish (14-2, 2-1) at home in the past 48 games dating back to the end of the 2009-2010 season.

Atkins led the Irish with 18, Jack Cooley added 14 points and nine rebounds and Jerian Grant had 11 points.

In other Big East games, Otto Porter had 19 points and a season-high 14 rebounds and No. 19 Georgetown (11-3, 1-2) broke out of its scoring funk with a 67-51 victory over host St. John’s (9-7, 1-3) at Madison Square Garden. The Hoyas had lost two consecutive games and scored 48 points in both. ... C.J. Fair had 22 points, Trevor Cooney hit two three-pointers to punctuate a late surge and No. 7 Syracuse (16-1, 4-0) won 72-61 over visiting Villanova (11-5, 2-1). ... Vander Blue scored 22 points and Marquette (12-3, 3-0) stayed hot, winning 74-67 over host Pittsburgh (13-4, 1-3) in overtime for its fifth consecutive victory. ... Peyton Siva scored 17 points and No. 3 Louisville (15-1, 3-0) held visiting South Florida (9-6, 0-3) to a season-low 27 percent shooting for a 64-38 victory.

Sports, Pages 27 on 01/13/2013