North Carolina State University Athletics
TIM PEELER: Pack pummels Savannah St. in Reynolds, 74-53
12/9/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BY TIM PEELER
First-year coach Sidney Lowe’s team (6-2) lost at
“We were a little lethargic,” Lowe said about his team. “They came out and punched us first. We had to call time out and regroup a little. It was later in the first half when I saw us starting to execute from a defensive standpoint and we hit a stretch when we caught them.
“Then in the second half, we came out and got going.”
Thanks to the scoring of “Breakaway” Ben McCauley, the Pack quickly erased
“We were pretty lackadaisical in the first half,” said redshirt freshman Brandon Costner. “We needed to pick our energy up. We were probably a little tired from the road trip. Once we got our legs from under us, we were all right.”
The Pack slowly pulled away in the second half, behind the scoring of junior point guard Gavin Grant, who took advantage of up to an 11-inch height differential over the Tiger guards to score a team-high 19 points, and redshirt freshman Brandon Costner, who scored 11 of his 18 points after intermission.
In addition to Grant and Costner, McCauley had 15 points for the Wolfpack, while sophomore Courtney Fells added 11. Senior guard Bryan Nieman, after playing only eight minutes at West Virginia on Wednesday, played all 40 Saturday night, sharing the team lead with five rebounds with Grant and recording four steals.
“(Nieman) was more active and he had more rebounds,” Lowe said. “He was playing the way he showed me he could play earlier, doing the things we need to help us win basketball games.”
The Wolfpack players enjoyed their visit to Reynolds Coliseum, the place where both Lowe and Wolfpack assistant Monte Towe both led their teams to national championship seasons in 1983 and ’74, respectively. However, they could have done without the traditional walk up the 23 stairs that go from the lockerrooms in the basement to the court.
“They joked with us about the history of the arena, how many great players walked up these stairs to play here,” Costner said. “I am just really excited and thankful to be receiving the torch from those people.
“But I was thinking in the lockerroom before the second half that I didn’t want to have to walk back up those stairs.”
Newly hired Tom O’Brien made his first official appearance as the leader of the Wolfpack football progam, spending most of the game sitting under the south end zone basket with his wife, Jennifer, and two daughters, Colleen and Bridget, as well as Lee and Carol Fowler.
He received a rousing ovation during the first media timeout, while holding a football flashing the Wolfpack sign with his right hand.
The Wolfpack basketball team returns to action next Saturday against Mount St. Mary’s, in a 3:30 p.m. contest at the
To watch an on-demand replay of the game on ACCSelect.com click here.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
