North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack Whips Florida State, 70-51
3/5/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
TALLAHASSEE, FL (March 5) -- The streaks are over. Prior to Sunday's game at Florida State, NC State had: Lost seven straight games, dropped all of its ACC road games this season and owned an all-time record of 0-9 in games played in Tallahassee.
A convincing 70-51 triumph over the Seminoles killed three birds with one stone.
The win means NC State (16-11, 6-10 ACC) will be the sixth seeded team in this week's ACC Tournament in Charlotte. The Pack will open against number three seed Virginia in the seven-o'clock game on Friday night.
When it was playing well earlier in the season, the Wolfpack relied heavily on its offensive rebounding and its ability to generate offense from its defense. It was that NC State team which reappeared on Sunday.
A 15-0 run in the first half, coupled with a 14-3 blitz to open the second half, sent the Wolfpack well on its way to what turned out to be an easier than expected victory.
"We've played a lot of good first halves through this stretch, but we hadn't been able to put together a full 40-minutes," said NC State coach Herb Sendek. "Today, we were able to put together 40-minutes of solid basketball."
Steady point guard Justin Gainey led four Wolfpack players in double-figures with 16-points on a 7-of-9 shooting day. Damon Thornton added 14-points and 11 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season. Anthony Grundy and Damien Wilkins added 12 and 11 points respectively.
With his father Gerald watching from behind the NC State bench, Wilkins put together a superb all-around effort. Not only did the freshman have six assists and five steals; he also put the clamps on Florida State shooting star Ron Hale.
The 6'9 Hale, who came in averaging just over 16-points per game, was held scoreless on the day, going 0-for-7 from the field.
"I tried to be a little physical with him," Wilkins said of his defensive strategy on Hale. "I thought I could disrupt his offense if I bumped him around a little bit. They run a lot of screens for him and it was hard following him through some of those screens. But that was when my teammates were able to help me out. We'd build a wall around him when he tried to curl off those screens."
Florida State's other scoring star, Damous Anderson, was held in check as well. The 6'6 Anderson, who was guarded by Anthony Grundy most of the day, managed just seven-points on a 3-of-11 shooting performance.
The Wolfpack started to break things open about midway through the opening half. With the Seminoles up 10-9, a Grundy steal and layup opened the floodgates for NC State. The Wolfpack went on to score 15 straight points to push its lead out to 24-10 with 5:36 left in the opening half.
During its run, the Pack held the Seminoles scoreless for nine and a half minutes. Delvon Arrington, who led the Noles with 19-points, finally broke the string with a three point basket at the 3:44 mark.
Many times during its losing streak, NC State had built up double-digit leads only to see those leads disappear in the second half. This time, the Pack made sure it didn't happen again.
Gainey scored five points in sparking a 14-3 NC State run in the first six minutes of the second half. The spurt gave the Wolfpack a whopping 50-23 advantage with just over 14-minutes remaining. There was no chance of this lead slipping away, especially with Hale and Anderson constantly misfiring on Florida State's offensive end.
"All ten scholarship players who played today contributed," Sendek said. "Everybody contributed and that's important because of some of the second half woes we'd been having."
Sendek called on a bench rotation that included senior forward Tim Wells, who hit a three-point shot in the second half. It was the Winston-Salem senior's first field goal of the season.
For the game, NC State hit 26-of-62 shots for 41.9 percent. The Pack helped its cause on the offensive end by scoring 24 points off turnovers compared to only six for Florida State. NC State also had 19 second chance points. Seven of Kenny Inge's ten rebounds came on the offensive glass.
FSU (11-16, 6-10 ACC) had a miserable offensive day, converting on just 19-of-56 shots for 33.9 percent. The Seminoles also turned the ball over 20 times. NC State finished with eleven turnovers and had just three in the opening 20 minutes.
Florida State, which will be the 7th seed in the ACC Tournament, will square off against number eight Georgia Tech on Thursday night.
