North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State Defeats Old Dominion
11/23/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Box Score
By Tony Haynes
NC State moved its record to 2-0 with a 75-61 win over Old Dominion on Tuesday night, but the victory did not come without some cost. The Wolfpack will be without Kenny Inge for four to six weeks after the junior forward was diagnosed with a torn MCL in his left knee.
"When you lose a player of Kenny's caliber, everyone has to step up and take it to another level," said Forward Damon Thornton, who led NC State with 16 points and ten rebounds. "One player can't replace what Kenny brings to the table, so everybody's got to pick it up while he's gone."
Inge, who was injured in the second half, will undergo an MRI on Wednesday. He left the game with six points and four rebounds.
As was the case in its opener against Georgia, the Wolfpack needed a late second half run to finally put the pesky Monarchs away. A Damien Wilkins three pointer from the top of the key with 4:18 left gave the Pack a 60-54 advantage. Following an Old Dominion miss, guard Anthony Grundy answered with another three point bomb to push NC State's lead out to nine with three and a half minutes remaining.
"We were much better in the second half," said Wolfpack head coach Herb Sendek. "I thought our guys rallied and dug in the second twenty minutes."
There were nine ties and nine lead changes in an opening half that resulted in a 37-37 tie. The lightning quick Monarchs repeatedly succeeded in breaking down NC State's half court defense with dribble penetration in the first half. The slashes to the basket helped Old Dominion shoot a sizzling 60% from the floor in the opening frame.
The second half was a different story as the Monarchs hit only 29% of their shots.
"We just packed it in a little tighter because we were getting beat off the dribble so much," said Sendek. "Our guys gave a much better effort in the second half and really pulled together. I think with just over seven minutes remaining on the clock, we had held them to just 13 points. That was certainly a far cry from what happened in the first half."
Sendek made some defensive adjustments at halftime, and he obviously did it in a way that grabbed his team's attention.
"He kind of erupted a little bit," Thornton said. "He let us know that we needed to get going in the second half and I think we did."
Thornton did most of his work down in the low post, but he also flashed some of the ball handling skills that could eventually help him become one of the most improved players in the ACC this season.
"This off-season I worked on everything," said Thornton. "They say repetition gives you confidence and I think I'm living proof of that right now."
Three other Wolfpack players reached double figures. Among them was Grundy, who drew three charges to go along with 15 points and four rebounds.
"With Anthony, it's seemingly something different every night," Sendek said. "Tonight he did it by drawing some big time charges and he certainly made a tough three down the home stretch that helped to catapult us over the edge. Anytime you draw three charges in a game-that's outstanding."
Big man Ron Kelley contributed 13 points off the Pack bench, while guard Archie Miller added 12 points.
Old Dominion star guard Michael Williams had ten points-all coming in the first half. Justin Gainey, who was assisted on a couple of occasions by rapidly improving freshman Marshall Williams, guarded Williams most of the night.
Center Skipper Youngblood led ODU with 16 points and nine rebounds.
"I thought we played pretty well for about 35 minutes, but unfortunately it's a 40 minute game," said Monarchs coach Jeff Capel. "They're a very big team. I thought they did a much better job in the second half of establishing their inside game. There wasn't a lot we could do to stop them when we gave up the position down low."
NC State won the battle of the boards 35 to 30. The Pack hit 26 of 55 shots for 47.3%. NC State also kept its turnovers down for the second straight game, giving the ball away just eleven times. That compared to 17 turnovers for Old Dominion.
The Wolfpack nailed 18 of its last 19 free throw attempts, including 13 of 14 in the second half.
NC State will host Stetson in a 7:30 game on Friday night.
