North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State Tops Georgia Tech, 66-58
1/22/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Tony Haynes
By game time on Saturday night it was snowing outside Raleigh's Entertainment and Sports Arena. But on the inside, NC State made sure Georgia Tech's dangerous three-point shooters didn't rain on the parade.
Despite being hampered by foul trouble and inconsistent play on both ends of the floor, NC State found a way to hold off the pesky Yellow Jackets 66-58.
"We held a very good offensive team to 34.5 percent shooting and 18 turnovers," said Wolfpack coach Herb Sendek. "I'm pleased with that aspect of it. Offensively, we weren't as sharp as we needed to be. But any time you can get a win in this league you take it and move on."
And with the win, the Pack (13-3, 4-2 ACC) took over sole possession of second place in the ACC standings.
Coming into Saturday night's contest, Tech (9-8, 2-3 ACC) was averaging just over eight three-point baskets per game, a figure that was tops in the ACC. But with the Wolfpack making a concerted effort to shutdown coach Bobby Cremins' long range bomb squad, the Jackets could do no better than 4 of 19 from beyond the arc.
NC State's Anthony Grundy led four double figure scorers with 13 points. Freshman Marshall Williams and junior center Ron Kelley supplied 12 points apiece off the bench. And as it turned out, the bench would play a key roll in the Wolfpack's performance. Damon Thornton, who was saddled with foul trouble all night, had ten points before fouling out with 4:37 remaining.
"He (Thornton) played twelve minutes, and during that period he was 5 for 6 and had two rebounds," Sendek said. "We're a much better team when Damon is available to us. We were fortunate to get by on a night when he only played twelve minutes."
The first 20-minutes was a half of spurts. After Tech ran out to an early 10-4 lead, NC State ripped off a 21-5 spurt to take command at 25-15. But Georgia Tech didn't die. The Yellow Jackets outscored the Pack 15-5 to tie it at 30-30. After an Alvin Jones layup gave the Jackets a 32-30 advantage, NC State scored the last six points of the half to take a 36-32 halftime lead.
In the second half, Marshal Williams scored five straight points during one stretch to ignite a 13-4 run to put NC State up 55-42 with 10:35 left.
But just as it had done in the opening twenty minutes, Georgia Tech responded. Baskets by Jason Floyd, Tony Akins and Jones brought the Yellow Jackets back within six at 55-49 with 8:46 showing on the clock. A Damon Thornton hoop at the 5:23 mark gave NC State a 59-49 cushion. But less than a minute later, Thornton fouled out.
A tough Shaun Fein three-pointer brought Georgia Tech back within five with just over two minutes to play. Then, with 45 seconds left, a Collier layup made it 62-58. But that was as close as Tech would get.
NC State made five of six free throws down the stretch to seal it. Since hitting just 10 of 27 free throws in a victory over Virginia, NC State has converted on 67 of 82 (81.7 percent) from the line in its last three games.
"NC State is tough," said losing coach Bobby Cremins. "We played them very tough and it was an excellent ACC basketball game. We're just disappointed we didn't get a win.
NC State was tough, and showed it was mature enough to put Wednesday night's emotional overtime loss at Duke in its rear view mirror.
"I think a lot of people expected us to let down in this game," Grundy said. "But I also think a lot of people are starting to notice that we are a very solid team. This was a very good win for us."
Collier, who came in as the ACC's second leader scorer, got two above his average with 21 points on a 7 of 13 shooting night. Before fouling out, Jones put up 10 points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots.
