North Carolina State University Athletics
Burleson Leads Pack to 92-78 Win At Duke
2/9/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 4, 1974
BY TIM PEELER
In that game, Burleson fouled out, let Duke’s Dave Elmer have a career scoring night and sulked as he watched his team lose to the underdog Devils.
On his farewell tour around the league, the 7-foot-4 center wanted to leave no regrets.
“That game was in the back of my mind tonight,” Burleson admitted. “I wanted to leave this place with a clear conscience. Just like I wanted to leave (UNC’s) Carmichael Auditorium with a clear conscience.”
Burleson took care of the latter a couple of weeks ago, when the Wolfpack posted an 83-80 victory over the Tar Heels, in which Burleson 14 points and had 11 rebounds in State’s sixth consecutive win over UNC.
Monday night, Burleson made sure the Wolfpack overcame a slow start and a tepid ending by scoring eight of the Wolfpack’s 14 unanswered points midway through the first half. Even after Burleson fouled out with 8:30 remaining in the game, after putting 13 points, 15 rebounds and six blocked shots into the scorebook in just 24 minutes of play, the Wolfpack cruised to a relatively easy 92-78 victory.
“I thought Tommy had a tremendous game,” Wolfpack coach Norm Sloan said. “That freshman game four years ago was one of his worst ever at State. Tonight was one of his best. But he’s been playing well all along.”
The sellout crowd of 8,800 was left wide-eyed at the Wolfpack’s arsenal of fast breaks led by junior guards Monte Towe and
Thompson finished the game with 23 points and 13 rebounds, while Rivers added 18 points and Towe had 12.
The Blue Devils raced out to a 22-16 lead early in the game behind the scoring of freshman guard Edgar Burch and center Bob Fleischer. But that lead, built mostly with Burleson on the bench, only inspired the Wolfpack to play harder.
By the time the 14-0 run ended, the Wolfpack (16-1 overall, 7-0) was well on its way to its seventh 24th consecutive win over an ACC opponent. The Pack led 47-36 at intermission and was ahead 70-48 before Duke (1-5) reeled off eight consecutive points, the last two coming from technical fouls called on Wolfpack head coach Norm Sloan.
He got the first for slamming the basketball down forcefully on the court and the second for arguing about the first. It was a rowdy game throughout, with fans peppering the court with paper cups when calls were made against the Blue Devils.
The game ended with the drudgery of Sloan’s tease offense that slowed down the tempo and an endless parade to the free throw line. The Pack, led by Thompson’s 9-for-10 performance, made 20 of its 25 foul shots in the game.
Burch finished with 20 points for the Blue Devils, while Fleischer had 18 points and 12 rebounds.
The Wolfpack travels to
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
