North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
East Carolina
Wolfpack Stay Perfect With 71-47 Win Over East Carolina
11/16/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov 16, 2001
By Tony Haynes
Raleigh, N.C.--Perhaps it was no surprise that NC State won the Black Coaches Association Invitational at the Entertainment and Sports Arena. But when it left the floor following Friday night's title game against East Carolina, the Wolfpack (3-0) walked off with more than the championship trophy: it also left knowing that it had improved with each and every game it played in the three day tournament.
Senior guard Anthony Grundy had 21 points and seven rebounds and forward Marcus Melvin was named the tournament's most valuable player as NC State ripped East Carolina (2-1) in the title game, 71-47.
In victories over Prairie View A&M, San Jose State and ECU, the Pack shot over 50 percent in each game and also had more assists than turnovers.
In Friday's title tilt, NC State knocked down 53.4 percent (31-of-58) of its shots from the field. And with the Pirates guarding against the three-point shot, the Wolfpack did an effective job of executing several crisp back-door plays that pleased most in the crowd of 11,524.
"We talked about the opportunity of winning a championship at the beginning of the season," said NC State head coach Herb Sendek. "It was good to not only win it, but each night I thought we improved our play. We were better the second night than we were the first and we were better the third night than we were the second."
Before East Carolina rallied to pull within 14 points with just over five minutes to play, NC State played a brand of basketball that could only be described as efficient. Getting good shots out of its half-court offense, the Wolfpack went on a 15-5 run over the first six minutes of the opening half to grab a 15-5 lead.
The NC State defense was also a factor in the first half as the Pirates, who had made 17 three-pointers in a win over Northwestern on Thursday night, had trouble finding many openings either on the perimeter or inside. In falling behind 35-18 at the half, ECU shot just 6-of-26 from the floor, including 3-of-13 from the arc. Among the defensive heroes for the Pack were freshmen Ilian Evtimov and Levi Watkins, who gave the Pack a boost off the bench with their inspired played in the first half.
"I thought both of those guys were really key in that run that we had," Sendek said. "We have the kind of team that will have different guys step up to the plate."
And While Watkins and Evtimov were making hustle plays, Grundy and Julius Hodge were saddling much of the scoring load. After the Wolfpack had built a 53-22 lead with 14:36 remaining, East Carolina started to get hot. A three-point bomb by Jonathan Moore with 8:59 left completed a 15-3 run that helped the Pirates climb within 19. And when ECU made it a 14-point game on another three by Bryan Foxx, Grundy went to work. The senior from Louisville hit a jumper to make it 60-44 with 5:14 remaining. Seconds later, Grundy would come back with a steal and three-point basket to make it a 19-point game.
Hodge, meanwhile, showed some of the flashy moves that helped him become a high school All-America a year ago. Getting most of his points on slashing drives to the basket, the 6-6 freshman had 13 points on a 6-for-11 shooting touch. Hodge also added seven rebounds.
One night after scoring 17 points, Archie Miller played a steady game at the point. Although the 5-10 senior had only seven points, he did contribute five assists and two steals, he also played 32 minutes without a turnover against a pressing team.
"At this stage of the season, I don't know if we could have played any better than we did for the first 30 minutes," Sendek said. "We did let our guard down, we did have some careless turnovers. But a team like East Carolina has a lot of pride. You've got to brace yourself because they're going to come."
Against Northwestern on Thursday, ECU stars Kenyatta Brown and Brandon Hawkins combined to score 43 points. Against NC State on Friday, they had just three apiece.
"If you would have told me on Tuesday that we would come up here and leave at 2-1 and played against NC State in the championship game, I'm not sure I believed that we were ready to do that," said East Carolina coach Bill Herrion. "I think our kids poured their hearts out for three nights. We beat a team from the Big East, we beat a team from the Big Ten. Tonight we got humbled by a team from the ACC. You've got to give NC State credit. Herb's got a good group of young kids. It looks like he's got good chemistry, they're playing very well together and they're playing very hard."
Melvin, a 6-8 sophomore, grabbed tournament MVP honors after recording nine points, seven rebounds and five assists in the championship game.
NC State dominated just about every statistical category, including points in the paint (38-10), points off turnovers (22-15) and rebounding 37-31. The Wolfpack also had 21 assists as a team.
