North Carolina State University Athletics
Thompson, Rivers Fend Off Pirates in Opener
12/5/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. Thanks to David Thompson’s inimitable basketball skills and newcomer Moe Rivers’ quick hands, second-ranked NC State did not begin the 1973-74 season with an embarrassing outcome against down-east rival East Carolina.
The Wolfpack, kicking off its quest to be the nation’s top college basketball team, did not look like even the best team in the state for the first 20 minutes of Wednesday night’s season opener at Reynolds Coliseum.
“We had a tough time getting out of first gear,” said Wolfpack coach Norm Sloan.
But Thompson, the junior All-American forward, kicked things into overdrive early in the second half against the Pirates, leading the Wolfpack on an 18-point scoring run that made the final margin of 79-47 seem much more dominant than it actually was.
Thompson finished with a game-high 28 points, following a 13-for-20 shooting performance.
The Pirates (1-2), featuring four new starters from last season, thoroughly out-played the Wolfpack in the game’s opening minutes, a bit of a shock for the 11,700 NC State fans whose team did not lose last year.
“I don’t think we were ready to play in the first half,” Sloan said. “East Carolina is always up for us. Every team we play is going to be. We have to adjust to this situation.
“East Carolina was well-prepared and they whipped us off the boards early in the game.”
Despite the Wolfpack’s decided height advantage with a lineup that features features 7-foot-4 senior center Tommy Burleson, 6-foot-8 forward Tim Stoddard and 6-foot-7 forward Phil Spence the Pirates owned a 20-19 lead on the boards at halftime and finished the game tied at 37-37.
Led by Nicky White and Reggie Lee, the Pirates established early control and took a 17-11 lead mid-way through the first half. White finished the game with 12 points and 12 rebounds, while Lee had a team-high 14 points.
Had it not been for Thompson, who scored 19 points in the first 20 minutes, the Wolfpack might have been in trouble. But he tied the game with two high-flying alley oops and scored his team’s final six points of the first half to give the Pack a 38-31 cushion at intermission.
In the second half, junior college transfer Moe Rivers, a new starter in the Pack’s backcourt, energized his new teammates with fast breaks as State picked up its defense.
The Pack created 19 steals and forced the Pirates to create 27 turnovers. Rivers led the way by swiping the ball six times, while junior point guard Monte Towe had four and Thompson and Burleson had three each.
The defense clamped down in the second half and the Pirates scored only 16 points after intermission, hitting just eight of 29 field goal attempts (27.6 percent). For the game, East Carolina managed only 34.4 shooting from the field.
Sloan praised the play of starters Thompson, Rivers (14 points, six steals) and Burleson (14 points, 13 rebounds) and reserve Mark Moeller, who came off the bench to score eight points in his 19 minutes of action in the backcourt.
Sloan was concerned about Stoddard, who suffered an ankle injury in the second half. But the coach said early indications are that the two-sport standout will be ready for Friday’s game against Vermont, a contest that is slated to tip off at 8 p.m.
But the season’s biggest regular-season game is looming 10 days away, when the Wolfpack travels to St. Louis to play top-ranked and seven-time defending NCAA champion UCLA in a nationally televised contest.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
