NC State
Louisiana-Lafayette
NC State Survives, Holds Off Louisiana-Lafayette, 78-72
12/15/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 15, 2004
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By Tony Haynes
Raleigh, N.C. - Sluggish and out of sync during the first half of Wednesday night's game against Louisiana-Lafayette at the RBC Center, NC State was hardly looking like a team that is ranked 9th in this week's Coaches Poll. Not only was the Wolfpack behind 28-23 at the break, many of its veterans were struggling. But the man who emerged from the phone booth in the second half was a gangly Superman from Cincinnati named Andrew Brackman. Scoring 14 of his career-high 20 points after intermission, the 6-10 freshman sparked the Pack to a hard-fought 78-72 victory over the Ragin' Cajuns.
With the win, NC State improved its record to 8-0 for the first time since the 1988-89 season.
This one was a rematch of last March's first-round NCAA Tournament match-up eventually won by NC State, 61-52. Wednesday's contest was not any easier for the Wolfpack.
Shooting just 30 percent from the field and missing 10 of 11 3-point shots in the opening 20 minutes, the Pack went to the locker-room in search of a spark.
Brackman answered the call on a night when his team was clearly ripe for an upset.
"I thought it was my time to step-up and produce for the team," said Brackman, who went 6-for-6 from the floor and drained 7-of-8 free throws. "When coach put my name on the board and said I was going to start the second half, I felt that I had to go out, play my game and help the team grind out a win."
And NC State would need all of the heroics Brackman could muster in a game that featured an offensive explosion from Louisiana-Lafayette junior Tiras Wade. Making an array of acrobatic shots, mostly from the perimeter, the 6-6 Wade set a new RBC Center record by scoring 37 points.
With Wade on the floor, NC State could never feel comfortable, even though he often had defenders draped all over him. After Julius Hodge made one of two free throws to give the Wolfpack a 74-59 advantage with 15 seconds left, many fans headed for the exits, thinking it was finally over. But Wade kept it interesting by firing a double-clutching 3-pointer that found nothing but net to make it a two-point game with six seconds left. It wasn't until Cameron Bennerman calmly knocked down a pair of free throws that the Pack could rest easy. A steal and basket by Tony Bethel ended the scoring in a game that was much closer than the final.
"You have to give Louisiana-Lafayette a lot of credit," said NC State head coach Herb Sendek. "They were bombed at Kansas on Saturday and they really showed great character here tonight in taking us to the absolute wire. We had everything we could handle and more. You have to begin with Tiras Wade who absolutely killed us. We had no answer for him. You can continue by saying we gave up 19 second shots, which is becoming all too familiar for us. And then on the offensive end we had 17 turnovers and were very ineffective at the free throw line."
The nation's best free throw shooting team last season, the Wolfpack continued to struggle at the line on Wednesday, making 29-of-44. Hodge, who finished with 16 points, five rebounds, five assists and five turnovers, was 6-of-14 from the line. The saving graces were Brackman and Bennerman, who went 15-of-16 between them.
And it didn't hurt NC State's cause that the Ragin' Cajuns finished just 11-of-21 from the charity stripe themselves.
To begin the second half, Sendek went with three new starters, sending Brackman, Bennerman and Ilian Evtimov to replace the threesome of Engin Atsur, Jordan Collins and Levi Watkins. Atsur and Watkins sat because they were struggling; Collins injured a hip-flexor muscle late in the first half and was hobbled.
"We had to play the people that were producing the most and right now, Andrew Brackman clearly is giving us a great lift," Sendek said. "We changed the line-up to start the second half."
And the move immediately paid dividends. Forty-two seconds into the second half Brackman nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the key, setting off a 14-4 run that pushed the Pack in front 37-32. NC State also got big 3-point shots from Tony Bethel and Bennerman during a quick spurt that covered the first four minutes of the second half.
But with Wade making highlight jumps shots from all over the place, the Wolfpack was never able to run and hide. After Brackman's layup off a feed from Evtimov had given NC State a 56-49 advantage with 8:14 remaining, Wade came back on the other end with a tough 3-pointer that brought the deficit back down to four again.
A short jumper by Brackman along the baseline gave NC State a 63-55 edge with 3:17 remaining. Brackman got the lead back up to eight again with 1:42 left on a couple of clutch free throws.
"Andrew Brackman continues to come on strong," Sendek said. "He was absolutely terrific tonight. If we wouldn't have had him, we might not have won the game."
Even ahead by seven with 20 seconds left, the Wolfpack still had to sweat it out, especially when Wade was fouled by Atsur on a 3-point shot. Fortunately for NC State, the transfer from East Tennessee State made two of three, leaving his team down by four at the time. That set the stage for the wild 3-pointer he knocked down with six seconds left.
"The effort that our team gave tonight was tremendous," said first-year Cajuns coach Robert Lee. "Tiras Wade played a tremendous basketball game. He tried to put us on his back and take us home. He's that type of player."
Wade hit 13-of-26 from the floor, including 5-of-9 from the 3-point arc. As a team, Louisiana-Lafayette shot 43.3 percent (26-of-60) and converted on 9-of-17 from long range.
NC State shot an even 50 percent (21-of-42) overall and hit 7-of-22 from the arc.
The Ragin' Cajuns dominated the boards, outrebounding the Wolfpack by a 42-25 margin, including 19-to-7 on the offensive glass.
