NC State
Florida State
NC State Stops Florida State, 77-62
1/8/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan 8, 2002
By Tony Haynes
Raleigh, N.C.--As much as they tried on Tuesday night, neither NC State or Florida State could muster the same type of performances that helped them upset top-10 opponents last weekend. But in the end, the Wolfpack was good enough.
Getting another solid performance from senior guard Anthony Grundy, NC State thwarted several Florida State comeback attempts in route to a 77-62 victory over the `Noles in front of 18,716 spectators at the Entertainment and Sports Arena.
Grundy finished with 18 points, four assists, four rebounds and four big steals as the Pack improved to 12-3 overall and 2-1 in the ACC.
"It was good to get this one tonight and we knew we were in for a war," said NC State head coach Herb Sendek. "I think Florida State has tremendous toughness, they have men on their team. They scrap and they play really hard. I thought at times during the game that we had a tough time matching that. But our guys were able to hang in there and come away with a win."
Just 48 hours removed from a stunning victory over top ranked Duke, Florida State (8-6, 1-2) was unable to put together the same kind of 40 minute effort that toppled the Blue Devils. But then again, NC State wasn't as sharp as it was in last Saturday's road win over a Virginia team that was ranked fourth at the time.
"Coach Sendek told us that this was going to be a tough game," Grundy said. "You have to be ready for everybody in this conference. From top to bottom, this conference is probably the best."
Although the Wolfpack built leads that reached 16 points in the first half and 17 in the second, it was never really able to put the pesky Seminoles away.
After a Julius Hodge free throw gave the Pack a 45-28 advantage with 17:43 to play, Monte Cummings (23 points) and Raleigh freshman Anthony Richardson (19) led an 11-2 run that brought Florida State within eight points with 13:31 remaining. Grundy and Richardson exchanged buckets before freshman Ilian Evtimov nailed a big three-point basket at the 11:35 mark to put NC State out in front 54-41.
From that point on, FSU never really threatened, although it did get as close as eight again on a three-ball by Richardson with 1:03 remaining.
But any Florida State comeback hopes were snuffed out by Grundy and Marcus Melvin (12 points) who combined to make six consecutive free throws down the stretch.
NC State probably played its best basketball during a 15-2 first half run that was keyed by Archie Miller's three long-range bombs. The last of Miller's treys came with 3:34 left in the opening half and gave the Wolfpack a 32-16 lead.
"He really got us going and we need that from him," Sendek said of Miller, whose practice time has been limited by a sore left leg. "How talented and special he is not to be practicing hardly at all and then walk out there in front of 18,000 people and put the ball in the basket. That's something to behold."
NC State settled for a 36-26 lead at the break after Florida State went on a 10-4 run to close out the half.
"Certainly you have to give credit to Herb and his group. I thought they played extremely hard," said Florida State coach Steve Robinson. "I think the biggest thing for us is that we really go off to a poor start. We had too many turnovers and couldn't get the ball to go in the basket. In the second half I think our kids showed a lot of fight and continued to work pretty hard."
NC State picked up 26 points off of 21 Florida State turnovers, while the Seminoles could manage only 14 points off of 13 Wolfpack turnovers.
The Wolfpack knocked down 45.2 percent of its shots (26-57) and was 8-of-25 from the three-point line. Florida State was 23-of-53 from the field for 43.4 percent. Along with Grundy and Melvin, Julius Hodge (12 points) and Josh Powell (10) reached double figures for NC State.
Seminoles point guard Delvon Arrington, whose dribble penetration keyed his team's win over Duke on Sunday, had 11 points and four assists, but also finished with six turnovers.
