North Carolina State University Athletics
TIM PEELER: Wolfpack surges past Northern State, 78-71
11/4/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH The new era of NC State basketball began Friday night at the RBC Center, when Sidney Lowe made his debut as the Wolfpack’s new men’s basketball coach.
Things were different and at time difficult, especially when the Wolfpack fell behind 29-18 to Division II Northern State, and couldn’t get the ball inbounds or up the court.
Some of that had to do with the fact senior point guard Engin Atsur was sitting on the bench, his left foot still in a supportive boot to help heal an Achilles problem he has had since practice started in mid-October. But that will come off Saturday and Lowe expects him to resume practice early next week.
So junior Braxton Albritton started the game at the point, and he got support at that position from junior Gavin Grant and senior Bryan Nieman, a former walk-on who was just awarded a scholarship by Lowe.
And, thanks to a time-out for Lowe to get a few things straight and some aggressive defense that didn’t allow Northern State many unhindered trips down the court, the Wolfpack scored the final 20 points of the first half to take a 38-29 lead.
Lowe’s team held on in the second half for a 78-71 victory, with Grant leading all scorers with 26 points. He also added eight rebounds and six assists. Sophomore Ben McCauley had 19 points and six rebounds, scoring from a variety of places on the court. And Nieman, who hit a team-high three 3-pointers, was the third Wolfpack player in double figures, scoring 13 points on the night.
“I thought a couple of individuals played really well,” Lowe said. “Courtney Fells played well. He didn’t shoot well, but he defended, he made some big steals, he got some big rebounds.
“I thought Gavin, playing the point guard position for only his fourth day now, did well. Bryan Nieman was huge for us. Not only did he make some shots, he was also very good defensively, denying the ball, denying the passing lanes.”
Overall, it was a good coaching debut for the former Wolfpack point guard.
“I was actually pleased with the way we played,” Lowe said afterwards. “It was a well-coached, disciplined team, patient team we were going against. We were able to tighten up our defense a little, get some stops and go on a nice 20-point run. For me, that was the nice thing about the game.
“I would have liked to see us come back out in the second half and pick it up again. That is the time when you get a lead in the first half, you want to come back out in the first five or six minutes of the second half and really try to jump on a team, especially when you are at home. But one of my coaches reminded me that this is a young team.”
But one that is also used to winning. They weren’t going to take the season’s first outside opponent lightly and they recognize all was not perfect in Friday’s performance.
“We obviously have a lot of work to do,” said McCauley. “We have a good idea of what we need to do. We have some work to do and some kinks to work out, but down through the season we are going to do pretty well.”
Lowe used Grant at his small forward position early in the game and switched him to the point late in the first half. Ball handling was difficult throughout, as the Wolfpack committed 20 turnovers to go along with 20 assists.
But the Wolfpack had a 35-29 rebounding advantage, shot 50 percent from the floor and created 21 turnovers.
“We talk about winning the game on defense,” Lowe said. “My guys know I don’t worry about the offensive end, as long as we are not turning the ball over. I feel if we get good shots, hopefully, we will knock those down
“But the defensive end is not a hot-cold thing. You can play hard on defense every night. That’s what we are preaching to our guys, that the defensive end is where you win ball games.”
The Wolfpack will play its second exhibition game of the season on Tuesday against cross-town opponent St. Augustine’s at 7 p.m. in the RBC Center. Lowe and his team open the regular-season next Friday against Wofford, also at 7 p.m. in the RBC Center.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
