In the famous Greek myth, the hero Hercules faced 12 labors. The Demon Deacons are smack dab in the middle of their defining tests, though they only face one third of what the Aegean demigod did.

Halfway through what may be the toughest four-game stretch any team in the country will face this year, the Deacs find themselves at the .500 mark in their odyssey. After winning a battle for second place in the ACC 73-58 over N.C. State Feb. 6 in front of their home fans, the Deacs fell in hostile territory to then-No. 14 Marquette 68-61 Feb. 9. At the end of the day, the Deacs stood at 16-3 overall on the year, and their 6-2 conference record actually gave them sole possession of first place in the conference thanks to Maryland's losses to Virginia and Georgia Tech.

In their matchup against the then-No. 14 Golden Eagles, the Deacons seemed out of sync on the offensive end, as they managed to shoot only 32 percent in the first half after averaging over 46 percent on the year entering the game. Senior Josh Howard, who led the ACC in scoring, entering the game at just over 19 points a game, was particularly off form, notching only six points in the half.

Despite the tough going on the offensive end for the Deacs, they found themselves down only three points entering the intermission at 29-26. Much had been made of this being a matchup between two possible national player of the year candidates in Howard and Marquette's Dwyane Wade. But Wade was also held under wraps for most of the half, finishing the period with only eight points himself.

After a first half in which they were colder than a supermodel with a superiority complex, the Deacons came out in the second half and quickly erased their deficit with a 5-0 run to start the period put them ahead 31-29. Marquette, which slowly built a seven-point lead with 11 minutes to go. But a three-pointer by senior Steve Lepore and a basket off an offensive rebound by Howard quickly cut the lead back to two at 45-43.

But with 9:48 to go, Howard came out of the game for a rest. In the three minutes their senior leader was on the bench, the Deacons found themselves on the wrong end of an 8-0 run that stretched the Marquette lead to 10.

While they would fight back to within four points multiple times, the Deacons never really recovered from the run, as Marquette converted nine of its final 10 free throws in holding on for a 61-68 victory.

Howard ended the game with 20 points and 10 rebounds, but only sophomore Taron Downey also managed to notch double digits in points, as he finished with 10. Sophomore Jamaal Levy turned in a strong performance on the boards in snatching 12 rebounds to complement his eight points.

The defense of the Golden Eagles seemed to disrupt the Deacons a great amount throughout the game, as they were unable to improve much on their dreary first-half shooting, finishing at just over 33 percent on the game, including only hitting 21 percent from behind the arc. In fact, that seemed to be a general theme in the game, as Marquette managed only a 36 percent showing from the field.

"I thought both teams guarded hard and you could see that in the shooting percentages," Head Coach Skip Prosser said.

The Deacons entered the weekend tied for first place in the ACC after a Maryland loss to UVa. had dropped the Terps back. Another Terrapin loss on the same night the Deacons fell in Milwaukee, and the Deacons had sole possession of first in the ACC as a consolation prize after their setback against the Golden Eagles.

Against the N.C. State Wolfpack Feb. 6, the Deacons used a very similar beginning as against Marquette, but managed to write a much happier ending.

With Howard again having trouble getting started, the Deacons needed strong performances from others just to stay in the game during the first half against the `Pack. Levy led the scoring for the half for the Deacs with an almost perfect period, as he converted all five of his field goal attempts, one of them a three-pointer, only faltering on his one attempt from the foul line.

Freshman Eric Williams also stepped up with 10 points in the half, though that total may have been less impressive than the 18 minutes the foul-plagued frosh logged. It was only thanks to those anomalistic scoring performances that the Deacons were able keep their deficit to 35-31 in a half where Howard managed just four points.

But, as he has shown a knack for doing this year, the Deacons' leader ratcheted his game up a few dozen notches when it mattered most.

Once again stating his case for conference player of the year honors, the senior co-captain went 6-of-8 from the floor and 7-of-7 from the free throw line on his way to 20 second-half points, giving him 24 for the game. He also grabbed eight rebounds in the final half, giving him a double double with 12 for the game.

Howard and the Deacs' knockout punch came about halfway through the final period. Tied at 49 with about 10-and-a half minutes remaining, the Deacons went on a 19-4 run to lead 68-53 with only 2:55 to go.

Howard had six points during the run, but the real dagger came from Downey. With the Deacs up 10 and less than five minutes remaining, Downey found himself above with the ball as the shot clock wound down. With only two seconds remaining, the sophomore point guard threw up a three from somewhere outside of High Point. When the shot went, in the Deacons were up 13 and on their way to a convincing win.

"That was a prayer," Prosser said. "Luckily he's a good church-going kid."

Downey finished with 12 points and three assists, while Williams added 16 points and five rebounds and Levy tallied six boards and five assists to go with his 11 points. With freshman Justin Gray having missed the last eight games with a broken jaw, Downey has been almost single-handedly shouldering the ball-handling load.

"I don't know if it can be appreciated how much pressure is on that kid," Prosser said of his sophomore co-captain. "He's our only guard, so he's got to play a lot of minutes, he hates to come out, he hates to come out in practice."