Wolfpack Falls 72-62 to Florida State

BY TIM PEELER

RALEIGH, N.C. NC State could not survive its poor start Wednesday night, falling 72-62 to Florida State at the RBC Center for its sixth consecutive defeat.

After falling behind by 19 points in the first half, State used its reserves to cut the Seminole lead to two points in the second half, but never had the chance to tie the game or take the lead.

The Seminoles thwarted the Wolfpack’s comeback attempt with a 10-point, four-minute scoring burst late in the second half that pushed their lead to 62-49. That burst was aided by four NC State turnovers in five possessions, two of which led to 3-pointers by Florida State guards Jason Rich and Ralph Mims.

“It was a bad game,” said second-year NC State coach Sidney Lowe said. “We didn’t have it.”

Nothing went right for the Wolfpack starters in the first half, and Lowe said so after the game.

“Our starters were just awful,” Lowe said bluntly. “They came out and missed some wide-open shots and didn’t pick it up on the defensive end. We had to go to the bench and get guys like Trevor [Ferguson] and Tracy [Smith], and they did a nice job for us.

“We tried to let those guys play as much as we could because they had energy, they played defense and did what we asked them to do.”

It wasn’t until Ferguson came off the bench to hit a trio of 3-pointers in the final seven minutes of the half that the Wolfpack (15-13 overall, 4-10 ACC) managed to get into the game. Florida State (17-12, 6-8) raced out to a 12-0 lead before State scored its first points, on a three-point play by freshman J.J. Hickson with 14:53 remaining in the half.

The Pack scored only one more basket over the next six minutes, as the Seminoles built their lead to 25-6 before State’s offense started producing. That didn’t happen until a frustrated Lowe cleared his bench, putting reserves Ferguson, Smith, Marques Johnson and Dennis Horner into the game.

Ferguson, who finished with a career-high 17 points, helped rally his team by hitting a trio of 3-pointers in the final seven minutes of the half. In fact, the Wolfpack bench outscored Florida State 15-0 in the first half, a main reason State cut the lead down to 32-24 at intermission.

“I have been going in and getting extra shots and trying to be ready, just in case coach calls my name,” said Ferguson, who topped his previous high of 11 points, which was set in Sunday’s game at Virginia. “Today I was able to hit some shots and contribute.

“But it is not about what I do, it’s about the team. I would rather sit on the bench and see us win.”

Courtney Fells added 12 points and Smith had 11. Florida State was led by guards Toney Douglas and Rich, who had 21 and 20 points, respectively, on 14 of 35 shooting. Douglas had a rugged start, missing 11 of his first 13 shots, but rebounded to make five of his final six, including a pair of 3-pointers.

Early in the second half, the Wolfpack cut that lead to just two points after Fells hit back-to-back 3-pointers, but it never had the chance to tie or take the lead, as FSU built the lead back up to as many as eight points.

Later in the half, the Wolfpack got as close as four points, until Mims and Toney Douglas hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Seminoles a 52-44 lead with 9:33 remaining in the game.

Ferguson and Smith helped get the team back within three points, 52-49, at the eight-minute mark by hitting five consecutive free throws. That’s when the Seminoles scored 10 consecutive points to take control of the game.

The Wolfpack plays its final home game of the regular-season Saturday afternoon, when it hosts No. 7 Duke at noon at the RBC Center. The game is slated to tip off at noon. Lowe and his team then have a full week off before playing its final game of the regular-season, at Wake Forest, in another noon game.

You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.

North Carolina State University Athletics

Related News

Related Videos