North Carolina State University Athletics
TIM PEELER: Costner dominates in Pack's 72-51 win
12/30/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BY TIM PEELER
Redshirt freshman Brandon Costner – who got his nickname from his teammates because of his propensity to fall asleep any time, any where – established new career highs with 27 points and 19 rebounds in NC State’s 72-51 victory over UNC-Wilmington Saturday afternoon at the RBC Center.
Costner’s rebounds were nearly double his previous high of 11, which he had in back-to-back games against Gardner-Webb and Michigan. They were also the most boards by any NC State player since center Todd Fuller had 21 against Virginia Military Institute on Nov. 25, 1995, and the most ever by a Wolfpack freshman.
To tell the truth, he was much more proud of his board total than his new career high in scoring.
“It’s a lot harder to rebound than it is to score,” said Costner, who had the third double-double of his career by halftime, scoring 18 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in the game’s first 20 minutes.
It certainly has been for the Wolfpack, which has been out-rebounded in seven of its 13 games this year. Saturday, the Pack owned 43-31 advantage on the boards, its second-biggest margin of the season.
Sophomore Ben McCauley helped, as he and Costner dominated inside play all afternoon long. McCauley finished the game with 19 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Freshman Dennis Horner also added seven rebounds, while junior Gavin Grant had 12 points.
The Pack established its lead in the first half, and led by as many as 23 in the second half. Sidney Lowe’s team also made more than half of its shots for the seventh time this season, hitting 52 percent of its shots from the field.
Meanwhile, the Seahawks made only 18 of 61 shots the entire game, shooting a season-low 29.5 percent from the field.
“Our defense didn’t allow any easy shots,” Lowe said.
The Wolfpack controlled the boards and the tempo throughout the entire game, without any troubling lapses that have come from having a thin roster throughout the early part of the season.
“It was nice to come out and put two halves together,” said Costner, who made eight of his 14 field goal attempts and was 9-for-11 from the free-throw line. “We haven’t put two halves together all year. I feel like today, we played good defensively and offensively in the first half. That carried over to the second half, and we finished the job.”
It was a far cry from Thursday night’s victory over East Carolina, in which the Wolfpack struggled in the first half, trailing by as many as 15 points to the Pirates. Costner sparked a rally in that game, scoring all 12 of his points in the second half.
“The opportunity presented itself, again, so I continued on,” Costner said. “I took what the defense game me.”
McCauley continued his strong inside presence, and made one of the best plays of his young career when he caught a wayward alley-oop pass from junior Gavin Grant with his left hand and slammed it home for a thunderous dunk in the first half.
“I thought that pass was way out of bounds,” Lowe said.
McCauley said he and his teammates took a lesson from the win over East Carolina that enabled them to roll over the Seahawks (3-7).
“We had a scare against ECU, but I think it was also a wake-up call,” said McCauley, who matched Costner’s 8-for-14 performance from the field. “Coming out of ECU, we knew we had to put teams away and … play strong and play our basketball.”
State led 33-25 at intermission and led by as many as 23 points in the second half.
In the first 14 minutes of the game, Costner and McCauley were the only two NC State players to score. But with a 10-point lead much of the half, the Wolfpack didn’t need much else.
The Wolfpack continues its three-game swing against in-state competition on Tuesday when it hosts UNC-Greensboro at 7 p.m. at the RBC Center in its final non-conference game of the season. Lowe and his team will then play 15 consecutive ACC contests to complete the regular-season.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
