North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
Massachusetts
UMass Trips Up Sluggish Pack, 68-56
1/2/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Tony Haynes
Amherst, Mass.--Thirteen months ago, NC State played one of its most ineffective games of an otherwise successful 2001-02 season in a 69-62 loss to Massachusetts. Ditto for Thursday night. Missing its first 13 shots of the second half, the Wolfpack fell into a hole from which it could not extricate itself and lost to the Minutemen for a second straight year, this time by a final of 68-56.
And while NC State's shots weren't falling most of the game, Massachusetts' were, especially those put up by 5-11 guard Anthony Anderson, who nailed 4-of-5 three-point shots in a season-high 25-point outburst. Forward Jackie Rogers added 17 points and freshman Jeff Viggiano 14 as UMass moved to 5-6 with its third consecutive win.
Meanwhile, it was hardly the way the Pack wanted to go into ACC play, which begins on Sunday evening with a home game against Virginia.
"It's obvious that we weren't very good at all tonight," said NC State head coach Herb Sendek, who saw his team fall to 0-2 on the road this season. "I don't have any excuses and I don't have any explanations; we weren't a very good basketball team tonight. I thought we had a good week of practice."
But in a harbinger of things to come, Wolfpack senior guard Cliff Crawford injured his back early in the game and was limited the rest of the way. Crawford, who spearheads NC State's fullcourt presses, ended up playing 23 minutes, but was relatively ineffective with two points on just 1-of-5 shooting from the floor.
"That obviously took some wind out of our sails," Sendek said. "He tried to come back a number of times, but his back was really bothering him. On the first layup he missed in the first half he landed funny and starting having spasms."
NC State's offensive attack also went into spasms late in the first half and early in the second when the Minutemen opened up a substantial lead.
The Wolfpack (7-2) actually looked good early, getting a couple of inside baskets from Marcus Melvin that sparked an 8-0 run and a 14-5 advantage. But just when it appeared NC State would open up a double-figure lead, Anderson, just a 32 percent three-point shooter from the arc coming into the game, buried a long-range jumper from the left wing to stem the tide.
The Pack would lead for the last time at 25-24 before the Minutemen would go on an 8-2 run to grab a 32-27 cushion at the break.
But NC State's problems were only just beginning as the second half got underway.
Baskets by Viggiano and Anderson to open the period caused Sendek to call a 30-second timeout, but when played resumed, UMass kept pulling away. Viggiano scored four more points on a layup and a pair of free throws to make it a 40-27 game with 17:02 remaining.
And while all of that was going on, NC State couldn't buy a basket (missing 13 straight)--or a free throw attempt for that matter. After failing to get to the line in the first half, the Wolfpack finally got its first charity tosses when reserve forward Will Roach made 1-of-2 with 15:23 left in the game. By that time, Massachusetts was already 13-of-18, a significant difference of 12 points.
The UMass lead reached 14 twice before Julius Hodge finally got the Wolfpack going with a personal 9-0 run of his own. Two old-fashioned three-point plays on baskets and resulting foul shots were followed by a shot from the arc that pulled NC State within five points at 44-39 with 8:30 remaining.
"We cut it to five and had a chance to win the basketball game despite our shortcomings," Sendek said. "We kept battling and we tried to grind it out."
But Anderson, the smallest player on the floor, put a couple of daggers in NC State's comeback hopes with a pair of three-point shots. His first bomb ended the Pack's run and pushed the UMass lead to 47-39 with 7:02 remaining. Less than two minutes later, Anderson struck again to make it a 52-41 game with 5:13 showing on the clock. NC State would get no closer than eight points the rest of the way.
"It's tough to know that we basically lost the game on three-point shooting," said Wolfpack forward Marcus Melvin, who recorded a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds. "We've just got to guard the three-point shot better."
Massachusetts, a team that was hitting an anemic 29.3 percent of its three-point attempts coming into the game, was a respectable 5-of-9 on Thursday night. On the flip side, the Wolfpack made just 3-of-12 from long range, thanks in part to the stellar defense played by Michael Lasme on Pack junior Scooter Sherrill. Face-guarded by Lasme most of the game, Sherrill scored just seven points and got off only three shots from the floor.
The Pack was led by Hodge, who had 18 points and four rebounds. Melvin was the only other double-figure scorer for NC State, which shot just 38.6 percent (22-of-57) from the field.
