North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
North Carolina
Hodge Carries Pack Past Heels, 86-77
1/26/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan 26, 2003
By Tony Haynes
Raleigh, N.C.--The celebrations never seemed to stop Sunday at the RBC Center. A pregame ceremony honoring NC State's Gator Bowl winning football team was followed by a special halftime tribute to the Wolfpack's 1983 national championship basketball team. Then it was the 2003 Wolfpack's turn. Getting 30 points and 10 rebounds from Julius Hodge, the Pack (11-4, 4-1) moved to within a half game of first place in the ACC by turning back North Carolina, 86-77.
Only 2-of-8 from the floor in the opening half, Hodge turned it on in the second 20 minutes, scoring 23 of his 30 points after the break.
"He just has a great mindset as a competitor," said NC State head coach Herb Sendek, whose team won its third ACC game in a row. "I'm in awe of him because he's such a determined young man. He's just amazing. Regardless of what he did in life, whether it's business or sports, you would want him on your side. He's just one of those guys. He's a winner."
But Sendek also received winning performances from all five of his starters. Strong inside, sophomore center Josh Powell muscled his way to 17 points and nine rebounds. Forward Marcus Melvin nailed two big jumpers down the stretch and finished with 15 points. Cliff Crawford added yet another solid effort with 13 points, six assists and three steals. Guard Scooter Sherrill also hit double figures with 11 points.
NC State would need all of its guns firing against the young Tar Heels, who were led by the dynamic freshman due of Raymond Felton and Rashad McCants. Forget that Felton was hitting on 32 percent of his three-point shots coming in. On Sunday, the precocious rookie from Latta, South Carolina drilled 8-of-12 threes to finish with a career-high 28 points. McCants, who led the ACC in scoring prior to Sunday's contest, tallied 20 points and 10 rebounds.
But their efforts weren't enough to overcome an NC State team that shot 56 percent (14-of-25) in the second half of a game that stayed close throughout.
Getting 14 points from Felton and 10 from Jackie Manual in the opening half, North Carolina led 35-34 at the break. Needing an energy boost on defense, the Wolfpack successfully changed the pace of the game after halftime by extending its defensive pressure.
"We decided we needed to get ourselves more energized, so we started the second half in a press," Sendek said. "It led to some turnovers and it helped to get the crowd in the game. From that standpoint, our defense did pick up a little bit in the second half."
And no one thrived on the energy more than Hodge, whose three-pointer with 12:10 left gave the Wolfpack a 58-50 lead. Following a pair of McCants free throws that brought Carolina within three at the 8:42 mark, Hodge struck from downtown again to make it 61-55.
"I didn't play any differently in the second half, I just made shots," said Hodge, who finished 8-of-16 from the field, including a 5-of-7 touch from the arc. "The second half I just focused on getting my shot up and getting my teammates involved."
But even after building its lead up to nine with an old fashion three-point play by Crawford with just over eight minutes to play, NC State couldn't put the streaky Heels away. A three-pointer by Felton and two baskets inside by McCants ignited a 9-2 run that pulled Carolina within two at 66-64 with less than five minutes to play.
With the sellout crowd of 19, 722 getting antsy, Melvin answered with a big jumper from the right elbow to make it 68-64. That shot was followed by the key sequence of the game. With the shot clock winding down inside of five, Melvin buried a three with Manual's hand in his face to give the Pack a 71-64 edge with 3:31 remaining. Then, following a Felton turnover, Powell drew a foul on a strong left-hand finish at the basket. His successful free throw concluded an 8-0 spurt to put NC State in command at 74-64 with 2:50 left.
"Those were two big plays," Sendek said. "I thought Josh was really good today. I thought we got another level of play from him."
Said North Carolina coach Matt Doherty: "We cut it to two and then Marcus Melvin hit a couple of big shots that hurt. "They're a good team and they made their foul shots. It's a tough place to play and they've got a good team."
Following Powell's big three-point play, NC State closed it out by nailing 13 of its last 15 free throws over the last three minutes to seal its third straight win over UNC. The triumph also gave the Wolfpack its first back-to-back regular season victories over backyard rivals Duke and North Carolina since the 1984-85 campaign. The Pack's 4-1 ACC record is its best start in conference play since Jim Valvano's 1988-89 squad opened at 5-1. All of this for a team that seemed to be headed nowhere following consecutive losses to Georgia Tech and Boston College within the last two weeks. Now, NC State will be playing for first place in the conference when it travels to Maryland on Thursday.
"This has really been a good week, but we can't get too happy with the wins we have lately," Hodge said. "We know we've been winning a couple of games, but we have Maryland coming up for first place and that's where we want to be. We're really going to need to focus in the next couple of days for Maryland, and hopefully get a big win."
In other words, there's no time for celebrations, even on a day when the celebrations never seemed to end.
