North Carolina State University Athletics
Smith's Career-High 31 Leads Pack Over Towson
12/31/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. When Wednesday’s afternoon game against Towson was not going well, NC State needed an injection of energy from the bench.
Down 11 points to the visiting Tigers six minutes into the game, the Wolfpack turned to sophomore center Tracy Smith, who turned out to be instant offense and instant energy against Towson’s zone defense.
Smith helped erase that deficit by scoring 12 consecutive points for the Pack during one stretch. He broke a 41-41 tie late in the first half with an inside shot, and State never trailed again.
For the game, Smith set new career highs with 31 points and seven rebounds as the Wolfpack defeated Towson 88-68 in a New Year’s Eve matinee at the RBC Center.
“It feels good,” Smith said. “I never scored 30 in a college game.”
Or 20 for that matter.
The young Detroit native, who played high school basketball at Durham’s Mt. Zion Academy, came off the bench with his team trailing 18-7, thanks to some hot shooting by Towson guards Josh Thornton and Jarrel Smith.
But Smith hit six free throws and three field goals for the Pack, paring Towson’s lead to six points. Later in the half, he hit an inside shot that broke a 41-41 tie and the Wolfpack never trailed again.
Smith blew past his previous career high of 14 points, set last year against Duke and matched earlier this season against UNC Greensboro, long before halftime. He had 19 at intermission as the Wolfpack led 46-41.
Almost as impressive as his point total was his performance from the free-throw line, where he was a perfect 11-for-11. It was the most free throws without a miss for a Wolfpack player since Cameron Bennerman went 12-for-12 from the line in 2006 against Wake Forest.
Smith entered the game shooting just 53 percent (16-for-30) from the line this season and 52.7 percent in his two-year career.
Most of Smith’s inside points against Towson’s zone defenses were set up by passes from junior teammate Brandon Costner, who finished the game with 15 points and a career-high 10 assists.
“I told Brandon I was repaying him from the last game, when he threw me passes and I fumbled them around,” Smith said. “I gave him like three turnovers, so I had to pay him back today. I just came out, caught the ball and finished.”
Junior Dennis Horner, making his second start of the season, had 10 points, while senior Courtney Fells had 11 and senior Ben McCauley had 10 points and seven rebounds.
After falling behind early, the Wolfpack
The Wolfpack offense regained its intensity in the second half, thanks to a couple of monster dunks by Costner and there was no repeat of Monday night’s near-disaster, in which the Pack nearly let a 16-point lead against Loyola slip through its fingers.
“We came our really flat to start the game and we needed to pick up our energy and our effort on the defensive end,” Costner said. “We were just being way too passive with the zone.
“Once we got Tracy some easy baskets, it opened up everything for everybody else.”
And that turn of events pleased Wolfpack coach Sidney Lowe, who watched his team win a buzzer beater against Loyola on Monday and lose a buzzer beater last Monday against Marquette.
“The second half was really good for us,” Lowe said. “We settled down a little bit and started taking advantage of finding the open man and being patient on the offensive end.
“What did it really for us was our defense. We picked them up full court and started putting pressure on those guys and making things happen. We took the momentum and really took off.”
Now, the Wolfpack’s season begins in earnest with a non-conference road game at Florida at 4 p.m. Saturday and the ACC opener at Clemson next Saturday at noon.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
