North Carolina State University Athletics
Men's Basketball Pulls Away From York
8/30/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Brian Reinhardt
TORONTO, CANADA Brandon Costner led four NC State players in double figures with a game-high 31 points, as NC State came away with an 81-60 win at York University in the first of two exhibition games in Toronto this weekend for the Pack.
Holding a 51-48 lead late in the third quarter, the Pack went on a 7-1 run to end the quarter thanks to six points from sophomore Tracy Smith. The Pack would then limit York to just two field goals in the final 10 minutes of play for the win.
“I thought we played well in that second half, our effort was just much better,” said head coach Sidney Lowe. “It starts with defense, and we made a real effort to get it done on the defensive end. I especially thought our guys down low were the key in that second half. They crashed the boards and that led to easy baskets.”
Smith’s spark started with a dunk at the 2:04 mark of the third quarter, and the Pack built up a 10 point lead, its largest of the game at that point. The Pack would outscore York 23-11 in that final quarter, and limited them to 26.7 (8-30) from the field in the second half overall.
The Wolfpack is shorthanded this weekend with three players, including two potential starters, all missing both of the exhibition games.
Senior Ben McCauley did not make the trip to Toronto for conduct detrimental to the team according to Lowe.
Point guard Farnold Degand is coming off of an ACL injury and forward Johnny Thomas is recovering from knee surgery. Both players hope to be ready by the time practice starts in mid-October.
NC State started the contest with Javier Gonzalez and Trevor Ferguson in the backcourt, with Courtney Fells, Costner and Smith as the forwards. Fells finished with 13 points, while Ferguson and Smith each notched 11 points.
A back-and-forth first 20 minutes that saw NC State maintain a narrow lead throughout, Costner scored 10 of the Pack’s 12 final points of that half to give the Pack a 35-33 lead at the break.
The Pack struggled from the field in the first half, hitting just 12-of-42 (28.6 percent) shots and was just 2-of-11 (18.2 percent) from three-point range.
“The first half was just a feeling out process for us, but we played much better in the second half,” said Costner. “We were more aggressive coming out of the lockerroom, and we finished plays that we were not taking advantage of in the first half. Our focus was taking it inside and hitting the offensive glass, and that is the main reason we were able to pull away.”
NC State will hold another practice tomorrow morning, and then face the University of Guelph at 7:00 p.m. Sunday night.
NEWS & NOTES
New Additions Two walk-ons joined the Pack for this weekend’s exhibition games. Kendall Smith from Winston-Salem and Spencer Greenway from Raleigh’s Cardinal Gibbons High School, will help bolster the Pack’s bench this weekend.
Afternoon Workout The Pack slept in this morning, and went over to local Ryerson University for about a 75-minute workout. The Pack spent the majority of the practice working on defensive sets, and ended it with the normal game day walk-throughs on offense and inbounds plays.
Late to the Party While the majority of the NC state travel party arrived in Toronto late on Friday, there were some that were not able to arrive until Saturday afternoon. Assistant coach Pete Strickland and walk-ons Greenway and Smith were suppose to catch a late flight last night out of RDU, but it got cancelled. The trio made it just in time for the second half of the Pack’s afternoon practice.
It’s a Jersey Thing Both New Jersey natives, Brandon Costner and Dennis Horner are sporting some new ink. Both players got new tattoos on their right arms over the summer, Horner honoring his hometown of Linwood, while Costner got a bunch of different sayings.
Crowd Support A couple glances into the stands only provided a handful of NC State t-shirts. One of those was freshman C.J. Williams’ dad who flew up from North Carolina for the weekend.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
North Carolina State Wolfpack vs York
08/30/08 7pm at Tait McKenzie Centre
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VISITORS: North Carolina State Wolfpack
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
10 Javier Gonzalez..... * 0-5 0-0 0-1 0 3 3 4 0 4 1 0 5 25
15 Trevor Ferguson..... * 3-8 2-4 3-4 0 2 2 0 11 2 2 0 3 26
23 Tracy Smith......... * 4-12 0-0 3-10 5 0 5 2 11 0 0 0 0 21
33 Brandon Costner..... * 11-24 2-6 7-8 4 5 9 4 31 2 3 0 1 34
4 Courtney Fells...... * 3-10 0-4 7-7 0 5 5 2 13 1 3 1 1 26
13 Spencer Greenway.... 1-1 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 2
2 Simon Harris........ 2-5 0-0 1-2 3 3 6 2 5 2 1 0 0 13
21 C.J. Williams....... 1-2 1-2 0-0 0 4 4 4 3 1 0 0 0 15
22 Kendall Smith....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
24 Julius Mays......... 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 3 0 1 2 1 0 16
31 Dennis Horner....... 0-6 0-3 4-6 0 4 4 3 4 1 1 0 2 23
TEAM................
Totals.............. 25-75 6-20 25-38 12 27 39 24 81 14 13 2 12 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-42 28.6% 2nd Half: 13-33 39.4% Game: 33.3% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-11 18.2% 2nd Half: 4-9 44.4% Game: 30.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 9-12 75.0% 2nd Half: 16-26 61.5% Game: 65.8% 17,1
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HOME TEAM: York
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
10 David Tyndale....... * 4-9 1-4 4-6 1 5 6 1 13 1 2 0 1 27
25 Stefan Haynes....... * 2-3 0-0 2-6 5 4 9 4 6 0 1 0 0 22
4 Tut Ruach........... * 3-11 1-4 2-3 1 6 7 1 9 5 4 1 0 24
40 Dalton Olinoski..... * 2-4 0-1 0-0 1 0 1 2 4 1 1 0 0 14
44 Vadim Razenberg..... * 2-4 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 3 4 1 1 0 1 20
13 Alex Gurba.......... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2
15 John LaFontaine..... 1-3 0-2 0-0 0 2 2 1 2 1 2 0 0 11
21 Chad Bewley......... 2-4 1-2 0-0 2 3 5 4 5 1 4 1 1 10
22 Rieko Ruach......... 1-10 0-1 2-4 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 0 0 16
23 Kenneth Buchanan.... 3-6 2-4 1-2 1 1 2 1 9 0 4 0 0 20
30 Malik Diaz-Mercurius 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 1 3 2 2 3 2 0 0 11
33 Tyler Anderson...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 0 0 1 0 1 5
55 Azaz Awan........... 1-3 0-0 0-2 2 4 6 1 2 0 2 1 0 18
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 22-61 5-19 11-23 15 30 45 25 60 13 24 3 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-31 45.2% 2nd Half: 8-30 26.7% Game: 36.1% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-9 22.2% 2nd Half: 3-10 30.0% Game: 26.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-9 33.3% 2nd Half: 8-14 57.1% Game: 47.8% 8,4
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Officials:
Technical fouls: North Carolina State Wolfpack-None. York-None.
Attendance:
Score by Periods 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total
North Carolina State Wolfpack. 18 17 23 23 - 81
York.......................... 12 21 16 11 - 60
