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Georgia Tech
N.C. State Drops ACC Battle In Atlanta, 65-59
2/20/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb 20, 2002
By Tony Haynes
Atlanta, Ga.--Everyone on both sidelines knew it and so did many in the Thriller Dome crowd of 4,841. Georgia Tech point guard Tony Akins was like a ticking time bomb who could go off at any time. Held to just two points in the first half, the 5-11 senior erupted for 17 of his team-leading 19 points in the second half as Tech rallied to upset NC State on Wednesday night, 65-59.
The outcome denied the Wolfpack's bid of posting 20 regular season wins for the first time since the 1988-89 season.
"I thought Georgia Tech played really well in the second half," said NC State head coach Herb Sendek. "In think they played hard on defense and on offense, they did a good job of executing. Some of the threes that didn't go down for them in the first half did go down in the second half. I thought in particular Georgia Tech started the second half with a real effort on the glass and I don't think we responded on the backboards the way we needed too."
Leading by eight at the half, NC State (19-8, 8-6) saw its advantage vanish quickly. Attacking the offensive boards with a vengeance, the Yellow Jackets scored the first nine points of the second half to grab a 38-35 lead with just over 17 minutes remaining. Six of Tech's first nine points after intermission came after offensive rebounds. Overall, the Jackets finished with 14 second chance points compared to just five for NC State.
"I called a timeout a minute into the second half because I didn't like our energy level," Sendek said.
From that point on, it was a dogfight. Marcus Melvin's three-point basket that barely beat the shot-clock buzzer gave the Wolfpack a 51-45 edge at the 10:02 mark. But that's when the Pack missed a golden opportunity to extend its lead further. Following a Cliff Crawford steal, NC State had a three on one break that came up empty when Anthony Grundy missed an open three-point attempt from the right wing. Tech took full advantage of the Grundy miss by knocking down a three of its own on the other end. Clarence Moore, who finished with 14 points, did the damage to bring his team within three points at 51-48.
Following a layup by Scooter Sherrill that briefly gave NC State a 53-50 lead, Tech came back with five straight points to move in front for good. Three of those points came on consecutive free throws by Akins, who was fouled by NC State freshman Julius Hodge on a three-point shot.
Clinging to a 58-57 lead with 3:29 remaining, the Jackets (12-15, 4-9) got a huge three from Akins to move ahead by four points. But the Pack wasn't dead yet. Archie Miller, who scored 11 of his 13 points in the opening half, hit a tough baseline jumper with 1:32 showing on the clock to trim Tech's lead down to two at 61-59. Then after getting a defensive stop, the Pack had the ball with a chance to draw even. Sendek called a timeout with 51 seconds remaining to draw up a play that nearly worked flawlessly. Grundy beat his man on a backdoor cut, but Ilian Evtimov's pass was a little behind its intended target, allowing the Jackets to get a deflection and steal.
Akins then iced it by knocking down four straight free throws in the final 35 seconds.
NC State held a 35-27 lead at intermission but could have been up by more had it not been for a scoring drought late in the half. Over the last four minutes, the Pack could come up with only one field goal and three points.
"There was a stretch there where we couldn't get a basket," Grundy said. "We should have been up more, but it takes 40 minutes of execution, getting good shots and you've got to have a killer instinct."
Led by Miller and Grundy, the Wolfpack got off to a rousing start. Getting a pair of three-point shots from Miller and another by Grundy, NC State jumped out to an 18-6 lead just six and a half minutes into the game. But Tech never let it get out of hand, and managed to close the gap down to eight at the half.
Grundy's 20 points led the Wolfpack, which shot just 36.4 percent from the floor. Along with Miller, Melvin (10 points) was the only other NC State player to reach double figures. While only shooting 40 percent from the field, Georgia Tech helped itself by knocking down 16-of-20 free throws, including 10-of-11 down the stretch. Freshman Ed Nelson was also stellar for the Jackets, posting a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Georgia Tech has now won five its last seven games.
