North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State Holds Off Providence, 64-60
12/4/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Box Score
By Tony Haynes
It was a tale of two halves at the Entertainment and Sports Arena on Saturday. NC State won the first half, Providence the second. In the end, the Wolfpack won the game. The Pack's 64-60 victory over the pesky Friars didn't come without a few anxious moments for the 18,411 fans who looked on at the ESA.
NC State (5-0) saw a 16-point lead trimmed down to just three before finally hanging on for it's fifth straight win of the new season.
"We played perhaps our best basketball of the year in the first half and arguably our worst in the second half," said Wolfpack head coach Herb Sendek. "Certainly a great deal of credit has to go to Providence for being relentless and playing very hard. They bring out the worst in you sometimes with their peskiness."
With 10:16 remaining, NC State held what seemed to be a fairly comfortable 48-32 lead. But that's when the momentum began to swing the Friars way. A pair of Erron Maxey free throws brought Providence within ten points at 57-47. Then with just over five minutes remaining, a Romuald Augustin three pointer made it a seven-point game.
"We didn't do a good job of getting out and challenging three point shots," Sendek said. "Then we gave up 18 second shots, which is just entirely too many."
The ever-relentless Friars never let up as they continued to pressure the Pack into turnovers and missed shots. And while NC State was missing, Providence (3-4) started hitting. The Friars, who connected on just 27.8 percent of their shots in the opening half, made it a 59-56 game when David Murray hit one of two free throws with just a tick under three minutes left.
With NC State leading 61-58, Wolfpack guard Anthony Grundy made the biggest play of the game when he stepped in the passing lane, made a steal and went the other way for a layup with 29.7 seconds showing on the clock.
A Justin Gainey free throw with 14.8 seconds left finally sealed it.
"We hung on to win, but I have a lingering taste from the first 18 minutes of the second half," Sendek said. "I just have higher expectations for our team. We'll just have to go back to work and get better."
The Pack couldn't have been much better than it was in the first half. Cheered on by an enthusiastic crowd, NC State dominated just about every facet of the game in moving out to a 36-21 lead in the opening 20-minutes. Grundy and Damien Wilkins had ten points apiece at the break as the Pack got Providence in foul trouble by constantly attacking the basket.
The Friars were forced to abandon their normal full court press in favor of a two-three match-up zone after being whistled for fouls early and often.
"We had seven fouls in the first five minutes of the game," said Providence coach Tim Welsh. "I had to do something or else I would have had to play the trainer. We scrapped and hustled all day long, but the two areas that really hurt us were the backboards and the free throw line. We had more field goals than them and had more three's than them, but the free throw line was 25 to 7."
And had NC State done a better job at the free throw line, the game probably wouldn't have been that close at the end. The Pack only converted on 13 of their 25 free throw opportunities.
Grundy led NC State with 18 points, eight rebounds, six assists and five steals. The 6-2 sophomore also had eight turnovers against Providence's smothering press. Wilkins had his first career double-double, posting 14 points and ten rebounds. Gainey added ten points-and perhaps more impressively-he had zero turnovers.
Maxey, who was held to just five points in the first half, finished with 18 points and ten rebounds for Providence. Point guard John Linehan added 12 for the Friars.
NC State hit 24 of 58 shots for 41.4 percent, while Providence was just 25 of 71 (35.2%). The Pack won the battle of the boards 49-39, although the teams were virtually dead even on the offensive glass. NC State scored 20-points off of 16 Friar turnovers. Providence had 22-points off of 21 Wolfpack giveaways.
"They were the scrappiest team we've played this year," said Wilkins. "I think we handled ourselves well in the first half, but we could have done a lot better in the second half. Games like that are going to happen. We're only five games into the season and we've got 23 more."
The next of those games won't come up until Sunday, December 12th against UNC-Asheville. For the next week, NC State's players will focus in on the books as they take final exams.
Providence provided a stern test on Saturday. That test was passed-but just barely.
