North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack Downs Drexel In NIT
3/14/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BY TONY HAYNES
PHILADELPHIA,
Next up for the Wolfpack (19-15) will be a Friday night meeting with Marist, which posted a surprising 67-64 win at
Oklahoma
State. Friday's contest will be played at Reynolds Coliseum on the NC State campus and will begin at 9:30 p.m.
Still slowed by the sore hamstring that he re-injured in the ACC Tournament semifinals, Atsur, a senior point guard, still managed a team-high 18 points and three assists in a courageous effort that won’t soon be forgotten by his coach.
“I hate to keep saying it, but he’s hurt and he’s not full tilt,” said Wolfpack head coach Sidney Lowe. “Without him out there, we’re just not the same ballclub.”
Atsur got help from center Ben McCauley, who tallied a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Forward Gavin Grant and Courtney Fells added 10 points apiece for the Pack, which won despite playing its fifth game in six days.
And while forward Brandon Costner was held below double figures for only the second time this season with nine points, he may have scored the biggest bucket of the game. With NC State clinging to a 55-54 lead with just over a minute play, Costner took a post entry feed from Gavin Grant on the right block and spun baseline past Drexel’s Frank Elegar and was fouled while scoring on a tough layup. Costner connected on the free throw, finishing off a three-point play that put the Pack up 58-54.
“
Brandon just read him,” Lowe said. “He felt the body and the guy got too high, and he spun baseline and made an unbelievable shot. That’s what these guys have been doing down the stretch. When the game has been on the line, they’ve been making big plays.”
Had it not been for a shaky showing at the free throw line, the 6-9 Elegar might have been the hero for the Dragons. In scoring a game-high 24 points, the first-team all CAA performer made 10-of-12 shots from the floor. But he also missed 8-of-12 from the free throw line, including 7-of-10 in the second half.
Coming into the game, Lowe wondered if the Wolfpack would have enough in its collective tank to play another tough 40-minute game after it had expended so much energy playing four games in as many days at the ACC Tournament. Making matters worse, the tiny
Daskalakis
Athletic
Center, packed to the hilt with a sellout crowd of 2,499, was hot and steamy.
Knowing that NC State would likely be tired, Drexel coach Bruiser Flint had CAA steals leader Bashir Mason pressuring Atsur from baseline to baseline most of the game. By the end of the night, however, the poised senior would have only two turnovers in 36 minutes.
Looking to throw a knockout punch right away, Drexel got three quick buckets from Elegar and a 3-pointer from NC State transfer Dominick Mejia to jump out to a 15-4 lead over the first four minutes. Coming out of a timeout, Lowe had his team switch from man-to-man to a zone for a several possessions, a move that seemed to take the Dragons out of their early offensive rhythm.
“They were a little too comfortable and they were energetic,” Lowe said when asked about Drexel’s fast start. “They had a rhythm going and we wanted to try to break that rhythm a little by going to a zone. We didn’t want to give a steady diet of it, but changing it up helped us.”
Going inside to McCauley, who had eight points in the opening half, NC State closed to within two points at the break.
The Wolfpack finally caught Drexel for the first tie of the game when Atsur scored on a driving layup with 13:55 remaining to make it 34-34. Seconds later, after Elegar had missed one of two free throws, NC State grabbed its first lead on a McCauley layup off of a nice feed by Fells.
With 12:01 left, Fells drained a long 3-pointer from the right wing to give NC State a 41-35 advantage.
Drexel then staged a comeback of its own, going on a 16-6 spurt that was fueled by a pair of Tramayne Hawthorne shots from behind the arc.
With 5:35 left and trailing 52-47, the Wolfpack somehow found a reservoir of energy to finish strong. Atsur’s layup with 3:10 remaining evened the score at 52 apiece. His two free throws then made it 54-54 with 2:51 remaining.
Following a couple of Elegar misses at the free throw line, the Wolfpack moved in front for good when McCauley knocked down one from the charity stripe at the 2:13 mark. Less than a minute later, Costner converted the old-fashioned three-point play that just about sealed it. McCauley then put NC State out of harms way with a short jumper that made it 60-56 with 38 seconds remaining.
Atsur then finished Drexel off by making three of four free throws to close it out.
“I wasn’t concerned about them being able to finish it,” Lowe said. “They’ve proved to me that they can do it. It was just a matter of me getting them to do it and keeping them focused. It’s my job to keep them focused and to put them in a position. Then it’s up to them. They’ve done a great job of taking advantage of situations.”
NC State shot 50 percent or better for the fifth straight game, hitting 23-of-46 from the field against a Drexel team that held its opponents to a league low shooting percentage of 39.9 percent. The Dragons made 22-of-53 for 41.5 percent. With Elegar’s adventures at the free throw line, Drexel finished just 7-of-16 for the game, while the Wolfpack was 12-of-20.
Mejia, who played one year at NC State before transferring, ended up making only 4-of-14 shots in an 11-point performance.
For Atsur, who will begin and end his college career at NC State, the end is indeed in sight, but as long as it is in his power to do so, he wants to keep playing for as long as possible.
“I’m having a great time with this team,” Atsur said. “I’ve had a great career so far and it’s been really fun playing for the Wolfpack. I just don’t want it to end. As long as we’re winning, I’ll keep wearing this uniform.”
