North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
Wake Forest
Wolfpack Uprising! State Whips Wake, 81-70
3/6/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 6, 2004
Riding its first two-game losing streak of the year and with senior guard Scooter Sherrill still sidelined by a sprained ankle, 16th ranked NC State needed a new set of heroes to emerge in Saturday's regular season finale at Wake Forest. Talk about stepping up. Getting career performances from sophomore Cameron Bennerman and Jordan Collins, the Wolfpack wrapped up second place outright in the final ACC standings with a stunning 81-70 victory over No.11 Wake Forest (18-8, 9-7). The win, NC State's first at the Joel Coliseum in six years, left the Wolfpack (19-8, 11-5) with 11 conference victories, its most since the national title year of 1973-74.
Not only did Saturday's triumph guarantee NC State the No. 2 seed in next week's ACC Tournament in Greensboro, it also gave the Pack an impressive 5-3 road record in league play.
It would be virtually impossible to fully quantify the value that Bennerman and Collins brought to the table, but the numbers help to spell it out. Starting in place of the injured Sherrill, Bennerman tallied a career-high 16 points to go along with six rebounds. Collins, who started ahead of Ilian Evtimov, also had a career-high, scoring 11 points.
Then came contributions from the usual suspects. Perhaps strengthening his case for ACC Player of the Year honors, Julius Hodge gave the Wolfpack 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the floor. For the second time this year, Engin Atsur outplayed his freshman point guard counterpart Chris Paul, hitting 5-of-7 3-pointers in a 17-point performance. Then there was senior forward Marcus Melvin, who added 12 points and seven rebounds.
It was indeed a head-turning win for an NC State team that was being questioned in many circles following back-to-back home losses to North Carolina and Maryland earlier in the week.
"With all that's gone on the last seven days, being our third game this week, and respond the way our guys did is just amazing, "said Wolfpack head coach Herb Sendek. "I couldn't be prouder of them."
 Ilian Evtimov drives past Wake Forest's Eric Williams during the second half.  |
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And you can't blame Sendek for being especially proud of Bennerman and Collins, who answered the bell in a huge game against a big-time opponent. Normally role players for NC State, both delivered when their team needed them most.
"That's what has to happen," Sendek said. "When your senior co-captain, a double-figure scorer who is playing 35 minutes a night for you, goes down, the only way to have a chance is if other guys step up. We have two terrific young men in Cameron Bennerman and Jordan Collins who were both terrific today."
Said Bennerman: "Scooter plays 35 or 40 minutes, while I'm used to coming in and playing 10 or 11 minutes. The more minutes I get the more I have to produce. It feels very good. I've waited a long time for the opportunity to show what I can do. You have to be ready every single time because you never know."
Hitting 11 of its first 13 shots to start the game, Wake Forest built and early eight-point lead in the first half. It was during that period of the game that NC State had no answer for Justin Gray and mammoth center Eric Williams, who combined for 28 points in the first 20 minutes. But once the Deacons finally cooled off, the Wolfpack worked its way back to within two points at intermission, 40-38. State, in fact, had to feel pretty good about its relatively small halftime deficit considering Wake shot a blistering 60.9 percent in the opening half.
To begin the second half, Collins and Bennerman set the tone by knocking down back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Pack up 44-42. And after grabbing the lead, NC State got downright stubborn, especially on the defensive end of the floor. Figuring out a way to hold Williams and Gray and check, the Pack limited the Deacons to just eight field goals and 34.8 percent shooting in the second half.
"We talked about those two guys specifically at halftime and we just wanted to refocus our attention on them," Sendek said of the second half defense on Williams and Gray. "I would probably go out on a limb and say that's as good as we've played defensively all year. I think it just came down to one of those blood and guts kind of effort days."
After making 6-of-7 shots in the opening half, Williams scored only one field in the second half. Gray, who was averaging 22 points over his last 11 games, led Wake with 23 points, but hit only 2-of-8 shots in the second 20 minutes.
NC State matched its stellar second half defense with crisp execution and clutch shooting on the offensive end. Up just 54-52 following two Gray free throws with 11:00 left, the Wolfpack got two baskets from Collins, a 3-pointer from Atsur, and layups by Melvin and Evtimov in an 11-2 run that made it 65-54.
But with Gray hitting a jumper and two free throws, Wake Forest crawled back within five points at 65-60 before the cool Atsur drilled perhaps the biggest shot of the game. Catching the ball along the right block, Evtimov turned and fired a backside pass to the freshman, who nailed the 3-pointer to put NC State up 68-60 with 3:43 left.
"Engin is probably an unsung hero," Sendek said. "I don't know that he's received the kind of credit that he deserves for the year he's put together for the Wolfpack. He's been a freshman point guard who has logged a lot of minutes; a lot has been asked of him. The 3-point shot that he hit to put us up eight after they had cut it to five was monumental."
Atsur has taken a liking to ACC road arenas in his first year. In conference games away from the RBC Center, the native of Turkey is shooting 62 percent (34-of-55) from the floor overall and 59 percent (22-of-37) from the arc. In a virtual repeat performance of what he was able to do in Pack wins at Maryland, Virginia and Georgia Tech, Atsur nailed three of his five 3-point baskets at crucial times in the second half. Defensively, he made life difficult for ACC Rookie of the Year candidate Chris Paul, who finished with just 12 points and six turnovers.
Following Atsur's big basket, Wake Forest would never get closer than eight points as NC State, the nation's top free throw shooting team, calmly knocked down 11 of its last 12 free throws to finish the game 15-of-19.
"I thought in the first half we played well," said Deacons coach Skip Prosser. "We had an offensive lull in the second half which allowed them to get that 11-point lead, and they're a tough team to come back on, especially when they're shooting 3s as well as they were. They present us with some severe match-up problems that you try to solve by cheating low. Then they make the 3s which kind of trumps that. I take my hat off to them; I think they're a really good team."
As a team, the Wolfpack shot 54 percent for the game and drained 12-of-23 from 3-point range. The Pack also did a good job of taking care of the ball, finishing with just 12 turnovers compared to 17 for Wake Forest.
Along with Gray, Williams (18 points), Taron Downey (14) and Paul finished in double figures for the Deacons, who won the battle of the boards 28-24.
Saturday's win allowed NC State to post its first regular season sweep over its oldest rival since the 1988-89 season.
