North Carolina State University Athletics
Wake Edges NC State in Overtime, 62-59
3/28/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Tony Haynes
NC State players huddle around Head Coach Herb Sendek at the NIT Semifinals at Madison Square Garden.
State fell to ACC rival, Wake Forest 62-59 in overtime.(AP Photo: Ed Betz) |
Forward Darius Songaila scored eight points in overtime to lead the Deacons to a 62-59 victory over the Wolfpack. The win pushed Wake (21-14) into Thursday night's championship game. NC State (20-13) will play Penn State in Thursday's consolation game at 4:45.
Despite shooting just 29.5 percent from the floor, the Pack was in excellent position to win Tuesday night's contest at the end of regulation.
A Damon Thornton slam-dunk gave NC State a 50-45 lead with 2:04 remaining. But that's when the wheels came off.
After Songaila made one free throw to make it a four point game, the Wolfpack turned the ball over on back to back possessions. A bad pass by Justin Gainey was intercepted at midcourt by Josh Howard, who hit a tough, driving layup to pull Wake within two at 50-48.
Facing fullcourt pressure, NC State forward Kenny Inge committed another turnover when he stepped on the sideline right in front of the Wake Forest bench. Seconds later, Robert O'Kelley hit his only field goal of the night to even the score at 50-50.
Songaila made one of two from the line to give the Deacons a 51-50 lead with 19.9 seconds left.
Junior Damon Thornton had 10 points and 8 rebounds in the NIT Semifinal loss to ACC rival Wake Forest.(Photo Credit: ESPN) |
In overtime, NC State led on two occasions. An Anthony Grundy free throw gave the Pack a 52-51 edge just four seconds into the extra period. A Grundy layup with 2:03 left put State up 56-54.
That's when Songaila took over. The 6'8 sophomore stared his scoring spree by hitting a layup following a nice feed from Broderick Hicks. Another Songalia lay in gave Wake a 58-56 advantage with 55.8 seconds left.
With the Deacons up 60-56, NC State's Tim Wells hit a tough three-pointer from the left-hand corner to pull the Pack within one.
Wake went up by three again when Songaila nailed two clutch free throws with 13.7 seconds remaining. Justin Gainey got off a last ditch three-point attempt that missed long as time expired.
"It's frustrating to lose, but that's the nature of basketball," said NC State coach Herb Sendek. "Wake jumps out to the lead, we jump out to the lead. Two good teams are going to do that. I think the game was what everyone expected. It was a hard-fought, very physical game. Guys on both teams played with a lot of determination."
The Demon Deacons opened up a 29-22 lead after shooting 52.4 percent in the opening half. NC State, which shot just 20 percent in the first half, grabbed a 31-29 lead after going on a 9-0 run to begin the second half. From that point on, it was a typical Big Four brawl in Manhattan.
Rebounding was a big key; Wake Forest won the battle of the boards convincingly 46-31. Their dominance on the boards allowed the Deacons to overcome 23-turnovers.
Songaila led all scorers with 18 points. Josh Howard (14 points) and Rafael Vidaurreta (10) also scored in double-figures for Wake Forest.
Grundy scored 14 for NC State, but only made 4-of-13 shots from the field. Inge, Gainey and Damon Thornton had 10 apiece for the Wolfpack.
Damien Wilkins, who was hounded by Howard most of the night, had just four points on a 1-for-11 shooting night.
