North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
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UNC Asheville
Pack Dominates UNC Asheville 86-56
12/14/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 14, 2005
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Ilian Evtimov scored 19 points Wednesday night to lead No. 21 North Carolina State past North Carolina-Asheville 86-56.
Cameron Bennerman and Gavin Grant each added 14 in a balanced effort by the Wolfpack (7-1), who had six players score in double figures and had no trouble staying unbeaten in the series.
Joe Barber scored 15 points for the Bulldogs (1-5), who were blown out by an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent for the third time this season.
N.C. State jumped to a double-digit lead in the first 10 minutes, getting an easy tuneup before opening ACC play here against Miami on Sunday. The Wolfpack shot 56 percent, hit 13 3-pointers and finished with 26 assists on 32 baskets.
The game marked a homecoming for Bulldogs coach Eddie Biedenbach, who played and coached at N.C. State. Biedenbach was a two-time all-ACC performer in the 1960s, and spent nine years as Norm Sloan's assistant from 1969-78 - a run that included the Wolfpack's 1974 NCAA championship.
Biedenbach also spent three seasons as an assistant to Les Robinson from 1993-96 before taking over the Bulldogs.
But the Wolfpack treated Biedenbach no differently than each of his four predecessors at UNC-Asheville, improving to 16-0 all-time against the in-state school from the Big South Conference.
The Wolfpack got a pair of 3-pointers from Tony Bethel to open the game, the first of eight 3s in the opening half. The Wolfpack shot 54 percent in the period to take a 15-point lead at the break, and used a 23-4 run to increase the lead to 30 midway through the second half.
The Wolfpack knocked down plenty of outside looks set up by deft passing against the zone early. N.C. State hit its season average for made 3s in the first 20 minutes, and finished 13-for-30 from behind the arc.
Bennerman and Engin Atsur each hit two 3s in the first half, and even Grant got into the act. The athletic sophomore swingman came into the game 0-for-6 on 3s, but knocked one down 5 minutes into the game.
N.C. State's defense also had its way with the Bulldogs. The Wolfpack had held opponents to 34-percent shooting, and did little to hurt that average by holding UNC-Asheville to 37 percent.
N.C. State started getting out in transition off missed shots by the Bulldogs early in the second half, with Atsur finding Bethel for a fast-break layup and Cedric Simmons for a dunk to start a run of five straight possessions with a basket.
Atsur followed that with a 3-pointer, and found Evtimov for a three-point play that made it 58-32 with 14:44 left. Grant closed the run with a transition layup off a feed from reserve Ben McCauley, making it 66-36 with 11:48 left.
