North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State Stuns No. 16 Virginia Tech, 70-59
1/31/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Blacksburg, Va. – Because of the wintry weather forecast in the southeast, NC State men’s basketball coach Sidney Lowe scrapped plans to fly his team back to Raleigh on Thursday morning following Wednesday night’s game at Virginia Tech, choosing instead to make the four-hour bus ride from Blacksburg after the 9 p.m. contest.
It was a bus ride that Lowe and the Wolfpack enjoyed the entire way.
Getting 20 points from center Ben McCauley and 16 – all in the second half – from forward Gavin Grant, NC State (12-8, 2-5) knocked Virginia Tech (16-6, 6-2) off its perch atop the ACC standings with a 70-59 victory at Cassell Coliseum.
“That was an incredible game,” Lowe said. “Our guys just played their hearts out the entire ball game. We set a couple of goals and they focused on those goals. We went out and beat a very good basketball team.”
Wolfpack point guard Engin Atsur added 14 points in his second game back from a hamstring injury, but numbers alone didn’t do justice to the calming influence the senior had on his teammates throughout the game, which was played in front of 9,847 vocal Hokie fans. Playing with poise and toughness, Atsur ran the Wolfpack offense with precision, turning the ball over only once in 35 minutes.
“My goal out there was to just lead them and calm them down,” Atsur said. “I have to make sure we get a good shot every time, especially on the road. You can’t play fast on the road. Coach Lowe did a great job with his strategy. We slowed the game down and made sure we got a good shot every time. That was my goal.”
Not only did the Pack shoot 53.1 percent for the game, including 56.5 percent in the second half, it put together one of its best defensive efforts of the season, holding Tech to a season-low 35 percent from the floor. Lowe mixed in a few possessions of 1-3-1 and 2-3 zones, and even called for a triangle-and-two during stretches of the game, but the Wolfpack’s most effective defense was its man-to-man.
Spearheading the NC State defense was guard Courtney Fells, who spent most of the night chasing Virginia Tech star Zabian Dowdell. Dowdell, the reigning ACC Player of the Week, came in as the league’s third leading scorer, averaging 19 points per game. But on Wednesday, with Fells in his hip pocket, the senior struggled to get 16 points, going 0-5 from the floor in the second half.
“An unbelievable job against arguably the best guard in our conference,” Lowe said. “We talked about sacrificing and if we wanted to win the ball game, we couldn’t allow him to get 25 points. Courtney really didn’t concentrate on offense at all; he just concentrated on staying with Dowdell.”
Playing with a touch of the flu, Dowdell’s backcourt mate, senior Jamon Gordon, made only 4-of-14 shots, scoring 12 points.
With McCauley hitting 6-of-8 shots and scoring 12 points, NC State controlled the first half before Dowdell’s four-point play on a 3-point shot and a free throw right before halftime brought the Hokies within two at the break. Right before Dowdell’s end of half play, NC State owned a 30-24 lead and possession of the ball with the clock winding down. But with Lowe trying to get his team to hold for the last shot, Grant drove and had the ball knocked away with 10 seconds remaining.
Dowdell’s shot and ensuing free throw seemingly sent the Hokies into halftime with a wave of momentum. As it turned out, however, neither Grant nor the Wolfpack would flinch.
Slashing to the basket, Grant erupted in the second half, and finished with 10 rebounds to post his second double-double of the season.
After Deron Washington’s short jumper in the lane with 16:42 gave Virginia Tech its only lead at 36-35, the Wolfpack came right back with a 7-0 run on a driving lay-up by Grant, Atsur’s 3-pointer and a basket inside by McCauley.
From that point on, the Wolfpack nursed its lead before the Hokies tried to make a move. With the Pack up 55-51 with just under five minutes to play, McCauley banked a ball off the glass that was then blocked by Washington. With the Pack bench screaming for a goaltending call, Jamon Gordon streaked the other way for a dunk that brought Virginia Tech within two.
It took only seconds for Brandon Costner to quiet the crowd with a clutch 3-point basket that gave NC State a 58-53 edge. Costner’s big shot set the stage for a 7-0 run and a finish over the last 4:19 that saw NC State outscore Virginia Tech 15-6 to close out its second ACC road win.
“That could have been the shot of the game,” Lowe said about Costner’s dagger shot from behind the arc. “Those guys had the momentum after getting an easy basket. He came down and knocked that one down and you could tell it kind of took the air out of the crowd and got the momentum back in our favor.”
With Costner grabbing 11 rebounds and Grant 10, the Wolfpack outrebounded the Hokies 42-29.
“I’m so proud of these guys,” Lowe said. “It was a great win.”
A win that made for a pleasant bus ride home.
