North Carolina State University Athletics
Wake Deals Pack 67-59 Loss in ACC Opener
12/21/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BY TIM PEELER
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Wake Forest played a more physical game and managed to withstand the foul trouble of leading scorer Al-Farouq Aminu Sunday night, handing NC State a 67-59 loss in the first Atlantic Coast Conference of the season for both teams.
Aminu, who picked up his third foul with 5:54 remaining in the first half, finished with a game-high 18 points , 13 rebounds and no second-half fouls. Deacon senior guard Ishmael Smith punished the Wolfpack with his penetration and his passing, ending the contest with 10 points, seven assists, two steals and, remarkably, two blocked shots.
The Deacons (8-2 overall, 1-0 ACC) came out scorching from the field, making 51.7 percent of their shots in the first half, while building a 35-36 advantage at intermission.
NC State's leading scorer, Tracy Smith, was on the bench for 11 minutes in the first half after picking up his second foul early in the contest. He came back in the game to score 11 points, but picked up his final three fouls in a two-minute stretch late in the game.
He committed his fifth foul with 5:54 remaining in the contest.
Junior guard Javi Gonzalez matched Aminu with 18 points and added eight rebounds. He had 11 straight for his team immediately after Smith departed, which allowed the Wolfpack to trim Wake's margin from 14 points to eight, thanks to a pair of 3-pointers, a handful of free throws and a short jumper.
But, by then, the Deacons (8-2, 1-0 ACC) had already established a firm grip on the game, thanks primarily to the Wolfpack's poor shooting. State hit just 11 of 32 shots (34.4 percent) from the field in the first half and 10 of 30 shots (33.3 percent) in the second half.
"I don't think as a team, we played our best," Gonzalez said. "Even though we didn't play our best, we still had a chance to win the ball game. We missed like six or seven layups. We were still in the game.
"We didn't do a good job of boxing them out and finishing around the basket."
State, trailing 35-26 at intermission, pulled within four points thanks to back-to-back buckets by freshman Scott Wood, free throws by senior Dennis Horner and junior Tracy Smith and a 3-pointer by Horner that made the score 42-38 with 14:29 remaining in the game.
But Wake scored six in a row in the paint, including a thunderous dunk on an alley-oop pass from Ish Smith to Aminu with 12:06 to play that pushed the lead back to double figures.
The Pack (8-2, 0-1) never got closer than seven points the rest of the way.
Head coach Sidney Lowe was disappointed that his team did not play better against Wake's frontcourt of Aminu, L.D. Williams and Chas McFarlane. The Deacons blocked eight Wolfpack shots on the night and forced Tracy Smith to make just five of 12 field goal attempts.
"We missed a couple of opportunities where we had some layups and couldn't convert," Lowe said. "Their size really affected us inside. We were looking for shot-blockers and we pump-faked and no one was even there. I thought that was a factor.
"But, overall, I thought our kids really hung in there and continued to play."
In addition to Aminu's and Smith's scoring, the Deacons got 10 points from freshman C.J. Harris.
The Wolfpack returns to Raleigh for a brief stop back home before heading to Phoenix for Wednesday night's game against Arizona. The game, which is slated to tip off at 10:30 p.m., will be broadcast on Fox Sports South.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
