North Carolina State University Athletics
Costner Shines, Pack Avenges ECU loss, 87-76
12/17/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. Brandon Costner didn’t like the way he and his teammates felt after losing to East Carolina in Greenville last season. So he decided to do something about it.
The junior forward charged onto the floor of the RBC Center Wednesday night and had his most productive game in two seasons, scoring 24 points and grabbing 17 rebounds in an 87-76 victory over the Pirates.
“Last year hurt, losing to them,” Costner said. “That was the big turning point of our season. That loss got our confidence down and got us down as a team. It was all downhill from there.
“We wanted to come out tonight and prove a point that last year was an aberration.”
Costner’s 24-point total was his most since scoring 28 in the 2007 ACC Tournament finals against North Carolina in Tampa, Fla., and his 17 rebounds were his most since grabbing a career-high 19 against UNC-Wilmington on Dec. 30, 2006, at the RBC Center.
“He really got in there and dominated inside,” NC State coach Sidney Lowe said.
The Wolfpack (6-1) certainly needed it, since injured starter Courtney Fells, the team’s second-leading scorer, was on the sidelines for the second consecutive game with an ankle injury. And that one of the things that motivated Costner to come out strong.
“He’s been blossoming out of his shell,” said senior Ben McCauley, who contributed 20 points and six rebounds. “You saw the Brandon Costner of old tonight.”
Costner came out of the gates early, hitting his first four shots of the game, two of them long 3-pointers. As a team, the Wolfpack hit its first six shots and jumped ahead 20-12 on Costner’s second 3 of the game.
Senior Simon Harris, getting his second consecutive start in Fells’ absence, knocked down an early 3-pointer and the Wolfpack offense was on a roll. But, behind the scoring of Raleigh-native Brock Young, the Pirates (8-2) fought back and took a couple of brief leads in the first half.
Young’s layup with 1.3 seconds before halftime seemed to send the game into intermission tied at 42-42. But NC State sophomore point guard Javi Gonzalez caught a pass at midcourt and hurled it from the far side of the center court line.
It swished through the basket as the buzzer sounded, but game officials watched replays of the shot for nearly eight minutes before they officially ruled the long-range 3-pointer good, giving the Wolfpack a 45-42 advantage at intermission.
“It was a big momentum shifter,” McCauley said. “It gave us momentum for one thing and it gave us confidence in the second half that we need to go out and execute.”
While East Carolina came out of intermission cold, scoring on just one of its first eight possessions, the Wolfpack scored on eight of its first 10 possessions and built as much as a 16-point advantage. A late surge by the Pirates led by Young and Sam Hinnant, who had 18 points in the game closed the gap to four points with 3:15 remaining on the clock.
But the Pack made its free throws down the stretch and East Carolina continued to miss long-range shots. For the game, the Pack shot 51.9 percent from the field, while holding East Carolina to just 38.4 percent shooting.
The Pirates, after making five of nine 3-pointers in the first half, managed to hit only two of 15 in the second half. Costner chased down many of the rebounds to help his team end the Pirate threat.
“I thought that was one of the big keys to the game, our perimeter defense in the second half,” Lowe said. “Simon, Trevor Ferguson and Johnny Harris did an outstanding job of making those shots tough.”
State returns to action Saturday at 2 p.m. when it faces Lipscomb at the RBC Center. Following the game, Wolfpack fans are invited to attend an open football practice at Carter-Finley Stadium.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
