North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State runs past Five-Star, 78-63
11/7/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
In it's final tune-up before the start of the regular season, the NC State basketball team closed out its exhibition schedule with a 78-63 victory over the Five-Star Hawks on Sunday night.
With an appreciative gathering of over 9,000 fans looking on, the Wolfpack used a pair of 8-0 spurts in the second half to finally put the Hawks away.
Leading the charge for NC State was forward Kenny Inge, who posted a double double with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Inge hit seven of his ten shots on the night. Freshman Damien Wilkins added 13 points and seven rebounds while Ron Kelley posted 11 points off the bench.
"As a team we stepped up and made big plays," said Inge. "We continue to make progress toward coming together as a team."
The Wolfpack has until the November 19th opener against Georgia to work on coming together a little more.
"I wish we had two more exhibition games," said NC State head coach Herb Sendek. "But at the same time, I know everyone is anxious to get started with the regular season."
Sendek will be hoping for a little more defensive consistency when that regular season begins. On Sunday night, the Pack struggled to stop the high scoring Hawks, who had a lot of success beating NC State down the floor for easy baskets, especially in the first half.
The score at the break was 37-37. To open the second half, the Hawks grabbed what would be their biggest lead of the game when former New Jersey Nets guard Lloyd Daniels hit back to back baskets.
It was at that point that NC State went on the first of its two eight point second half spurts to run out to a 52-48 advantage.
"You can only run and get out in transition if you get stops on defense," Sendek said. "We finally were able to put together some consecutive stops. Early on in the game we really weren't doing that and we really weren't pleased with our first half defensive effort at all."
But Sendek was pleased with the play of his three freshmen, especially Marshall Williams, who scored six of the Pack's eight points during that early second half run.
"I thought all three (freshmen) were better tonight than they were the first night," said Sendek. "We got positive results from all nine players that got into the game tonight."
Williams finished with nine points in 17 minutes while Clifford Crawford chipped in with three points and three assists.
Leading 64-58 with 6:42 left, NC State put the game away for good by scoring eight straight points to push its advantage out to 72-58 with 4:32 remaining. The Pack outscored Five-Star 14-5 to end the game.
Daniels had 13-points for the Hawks, but only connected on 5 of 17 shots. Seth Marshall had 13 as well.
After the game Sendek said that it would probably be another week before Tim Wells could start practicing. The senior from Winston-Salem has not participated in any pre-season drills because of tendinitis in his left knee. Center Cornelius Williams, who's recovering from a stress fracture in his leg, has started practicing on a limited basis.
