North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack Extinguishes the Flames, 85-50
12/17/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Box Score
By Tony Haynes
It was by no means perfect, but NC State may have put together its most complete game of the year on Friday night. Freshman Marshall Williams led five double-figure scorers with 17 points as the Wolfpack turned back Liberty 85-50.
With the win, the Pack moved its record to 7-0 for the first time since the 1981-82 season.
"It feels real good," said senior guard Justin Gainey, who had 13 points to go along with four assists and four rebounds. "I've been here when we started out real slow. To be where we are right now shows a lot of improvement."
In a repeat performance of the first six games, NC State was spearheaded by a suffocating defense that forced 31 Liberty turnovers. Anthony Grundy and Williams, who shadowed Flames star Carl Williams most of the night, led the defensive effort.
"I thought our defense on Carl was outstanding," Sendek said. "He ended up with 16 points in 37 minutes of play, but he took 22 shots to get those 16 points. He also had six turnovers."
Williams, who had averaged just over 19 points per game coming in, was just 5 of 22 from the field.
Neither team had much success getting the ball to fall through the basket in the early going. Both clubs missed eight of their first nine shots over the first several minutes of the game.
Leading 9-6, the Wolfpack managed to put some distance between itself and the Flames by going on a 12-2 spurt midway through the first half. Liberty (7-2) managed to crawl back within ten on a couple of occasions, but never got any closer as NC State took a 35-22 lead into the lockeroom.
Liberty, a team that relies heavily on its transition game, was forced to play against the Wolfpack's set half court defense most of the first half.
"No question, that's always a big key," said Sendek. "I thought we did a pretty good job on the backboard."
Defensive rebounding was something Sendek and his staff had stressed in preparing for the game because the Flames had done a good job of collecting offensive rebounds in their first eight games. On Friday night, NC State outrebounded Liberty by a 54-39 margin. Forward Damon Thornton grabbed ten of those rebounds for the Pack.
An 11-2 Wolfpack run at the outset of the second half pretty much diminished Liberty's upset hopes.
"Our goal tonight was to play a complete game because this was a very capable team," Gainey said. "I have a good feeling about this team right now. On any given night, somebody can step up if someone else is having an off night. The main thing is that we have played real good defense and we play real hard on every possession."
The Flames were coming off back to back road wins at Virginia Tech and Richmond. But on Friday, they were overmatched.
"I thought NC State did a good job of busting a little bubble that we had," said Liberty coach Mel Hankinson. "NC State did a great job of exposing our weaknesses tonight."
Friday night's game also marked the return of Wolfpack forward Kenny Inge, who had missed three weeks and four games with a partially torn MCL in his left knee. Inge's comeback occurred two weeks earlier than expected. His 12 point, six rebound performance in 19 minutes thrilled a crowd of 13,565.
"He's amazing," Sendek said. "He hasn't been at all tentative and his game really isn't off stride. Obviously he has to work on getting his conditioning back. He gets winded a little more easily with that long layoff, but in terms of his game, I think everyone is very pleased."
NC State senior forward Tim Wells, who had been sidelined with shoulder and knee injuries, also saw his first action of the year. The 6-7 forward from Winston-Salem did not score in his six minutes of playing time.
