North Carolina State University Athletics
Boston College Downs Wolfpack, 82-65
2/15/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BY TONY HAYNES
CHESTNUT HILL, MA Thanks to Tyrese Rice, Boston College ended a losing streak on Thursday, while NC State continued one. Tying a career-high with 32 points, Rice helped the Eagles (13-10, 4-6) end a six-game losing streak with an 82-65 victory over the Wolfpack.
For the Pack (15-9, 4-6), it was a second straight road loss and another difficult night on the defensive end of the floor.
Knocking down 30-of-53 shots, B.C. hit 56.6 percent from the floor and seven of 14 from 3-point range. And despite facing a number of different defenses designed to slow him down, Rice still had his way all night, riddling NC State with a variety of circus shots and slicing drives to the basket.
The Wolfpack tried to double Rice in the backcourt after made field goals and free throws in hopes of getting the ball out of his hands. The Pack even went to a box-and-one defense on a handful of second half possessions in hopes of controlling Boston College’s clever junior point guard.
Nothing seemed to work as Rice made 12-of-18 shots overall and 3-of-6 from beyond the arc. Rice outscored Wolfpack point guards Javier Gonzalez and Marques Johnson 32-0.
“We said from the very beginning that he’s one of the best guards in the country,” said NC State head coach Sidney Lowe. “We saw him control the game, create things and find a way to get open. He’s a clever basketball player.”
With Rice controlling the game from the opening tip, the Wolfpack was even only once when it was 2-2, and never led a contest that was played before a small crowd of 5,138 at Conte Forum on the B.C. campus.
Trailing by as many as 12 points in the first half, NC State’s inability to string together defensive stops made it difficult for the Pack to make any serious runs. Even after closing the opening half by making 8-of-9 shots, the Wolfpack went into the lockerroom down 41-32 following a tough, contested leaner by Boston College’s Tyler Roche that beat the buzzer.
Throughout most of the second half, it was pretty much the same story as the two teams traded baskets during many critical stretches. The Wolfpack’s best chance to make a game of it may have come five minutes into the second half when a breakaway dunk by forward Brandon Costner cut the Eagles advantage down to five, at 47-42.
But then came a series of defensive breakdowns that led to a 10-2 B.C. run that pushed the lead back out to 13 points with just over 13 minutes remaining.
With eight minutes to play, the Pack tried to make another push, getting baskets from guard Courtney Fells and Center J.J. Hickson that cut the B.C. advantage down to six. But once again, when it needed to come up with a key defensive possession, the Pack was unable to do so. A dunk by Tyrelle Blair followed by an stick back off of a miss by Shamar Spears made it 67-57 Eagles with five minutes to play.
NC State would get no closer than seven the rest of the way.
“From the opening tip we didn’t set the tone by getting stops when we needed them,” Costner said. “We let Tyrese get into a rhythm early and you can’t let scorers get into a rhythm. It carried over for the rest of the game.”
Along with shooting a high percentage, Boston College also scored 16 second chance points on 10 offensive rebounds. The Eagles won the overall battle of the boards, 35-25.
“That was very disappointing,” Lowe said. “We didn’t rebound the basketball. That’s something we have to do better. We need all of our big guys to rebound; we can just have two guys doing it, we need all three big guys.”
Hickson led the Pack with 20 points and seven rebounds. Gavin Grant had 15 points, while Costner added 14 points, seven boards and seven assists in 32 minutes off the bench. Between them, however, Hickson, Grant and Costner combined for 11 of NC State’s 13 turnovers. Ben McCauley started, but played only 12 minutes, tallying six points and zero rebounds. Dennis Horner, one of the Pack’s top reserves, never got into the game.
Backing up Rice for Boston College was guard Rakim Sanders, who finished with 14 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
NC State shot 47 percent from the field (26-of-55), but again couldn’t compliment its offensive effort with enough grit and toughness on the other end of the floor or on the backboards.
“The bottom line is we have to play better defense and be tougher and stronger,” said Lowe. “We need to be tougher physically and mentally. We can’t let guys go off on us and then let the secondary and third guy score and get rebounds. We just have to take on the challenge. I told the guys from this point on, I’m playing guys that are going to defend. If you can’t defend, I’m going to take you out of the game. I don’t care if it’s two minutes into the game I’m going to take you out. I need somebody that’s going to get stops for us.”
Lowe doesn’t have a lot of time to find the answers he’s looking for. The Wolfpack will turnaround and face Clemson at home on Saturday at 3 p.m.
