NC State
UNC Wilmington
Wolfpack Earns Tough Win Over Seahawks, 68-50
1/3/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 3, 2004
By Tony Haynes
Raleigh, N.C.--Perhaps it should be no surprise that Saturday night's basketball tussle between UNC Wilmington and NC State turned into a tough, physical battle in which open shots were difficult to come by. After all, both clubs pride themselves in playing gritty halfcourt defense that puts a premium on protecting the paint and contesting jump shots. Getting 24 points and 12 rebounds from Julius Hodge and 22 points from Marcus Melvin, the Wolfpack (7-2) prevailed 68-50 in a game that was a lot closer than the final score might indicate.
State appeared to be on the ropes with just over 12:00 remaining when a free throw by Aaron Combs pulled the Seahawks even at 39-39. Down by just six points at intermission, UNCW had outscored the Wolfpack 12-to-6 over the first eight minutes of the second half to grab the momentum. With just under 7:00 remaining, UNC Wilmington was still in it, trailing 47-44 following a 3-point basket by forward Mitch Laue.
But that's when Hodge and Melvin put and end to the Seahawks' upset bid. Over the next two minutes, those two players would account for all of NC State's points during a 9-0 run that allowed that Wolfpack to open up a 56-44 advantage.
The decisive scoring spree opened when Hodge - spotting up in front of his own bench -drilled a tough, contested 3-pointer that pushed a three-point lead out to six with 6:35 remaining.
"I knew I had a little opening and with my release I knew I was going to be able to get the shot up," said Hodge, whose big three was his only try beyond the arc all night. "Right before I caught the ball, I heard my teammate Will Roach say `Jules, it's money.' The shot went in and I was happy at the time, but I don't think I would have shot it had Will not said that. I would have taken the mid-range."
Roach, of course, was sitting right behind Hodge on the bench when he gave his teammate that brief second of inspiration. That shot also seemed to inspire the crowd and the NC State team the rest of the way. On the Pack's next possession, Melvin connected on a tough turnaround jumper from the baseline that made it 52-44.
"[Hodge's shot] gave us a little breathing room and then Marcus on the next possession hit one from the post," said NC State head coach Herb Sendek. "They were hard-earned baskets with your best players making plays. Some of their baskets were the same way."
On this night, players on both teams were forced to step up and make some difficult shots because neither club was willing to give an inch on the defensive end. UNC Wilmington (5-5), which had held its first nine opponents to an average of just 58 points per game, had the Wolfpack offense well scouted and never allowed the Pack to get into a good offensive rhythm. NC State was just 6-of-20 from 3-point range and finished the game 21-of-46 overall for 45.7 percent. Most of that success, however, occurred over the last 8:37 when the Wolfpack outscored UNCW 21-6.
"They're really sound," Sendek said when asked about UNC Wilmington's defensive effort. "They don't beat themselves and play great position defense. They have strong, physical guys. They really grind you on cuts and don't give you and inch."
But Sendek's team wasn't about to give an inch on the defensive end either. Holding the Seahawks to 35.4 percent shooting (17-48), the Wolfpack yielded just three field goals over the last nine minutes.
"Our game plan was to come in and play tenacious defense," Hodge said. "We knew there would be some bumps in the road and some times when the shots wouldn't fall, but as long as we played hard defense, everything was going to work out. We definitely did that for 40 minutes."
The Pack was also stellar from the free throw line, where it connected on 20-of-24, including 13-of-16 in the second half. Between them, Hodge and Melvin were a perfect 17-of-17 from the line.
"I thought we did an outstanding job defensively throughout the game and made it hard for guys to get the type of open looks that they like," said UNC Wilmington coach Brad Brownell. "Late in the game, they did a good job of exposing their size advantage against us with Melvin. We didn't come here to just show up and pick up a check in leave. We came here to win the basketball game. For about 35 minutes, there was a question about who was going to win. For that, I'm very proud of our kids."
The Seahawks, who upset Southern California in the NCAA Tournament two years ago and nearly did the same thing in the first round against Maryland last March, were hardly overwhelmed by the ACC-like atmosphere they encountered at the RBC Center on Saturday night. And when they pulled even at the 12:09 mark, they had succeeded in putting the pressure squarely on the shoulders of NC State.
"When you play a game like this, the only pressure they're going to feel is the pressure we put on them," said Sendek, who wasn't around when the Seahawks stunned the Pack in the previous meeting between the two clubs in 1992. "All the momentum went to them when the score was tied. Certainly, we come into the game and people expect us to win as an ACC team. In some sense, they play with a level of looseness that we don't have the luxury of having in a game like this."
Along with Hodge and Melvin, Ilian Evtimov also reached double figures for NC State with 10 points. The Seahawks got 10 points off the bench from Georgia Tech transfer Halston Lane. UNC Wilmington guard John Goldsberry, who set an NCAA Tournament record with eight 3-pointers in that faithful Maryland game last year, missed all four of his field goal attempts and was held scoreless.
NC State was without the services of forward Levi Watkins, who sat out the game with a pulled muscle in his lower leg.
