North Carolina State University Athletics
Pack Rolls to 87-70 Win Over Holy Cross
1/7/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. – After a sputtering first half, NC State used its defense and 3-point shooting to pull away from visiting Holy Cross Wednesday night at the RBC Center, 87-70, in the Wolfpack's last non-conference game before the meat of the ACC season begins.
The Wolfpack (11-4 overall, 0-1 in the ACC) held a slim 33-31 lead at intermission, as the Crusaders outrebounded the Pack 23-16 and made five of eight 3-point shots in the opening 20 minutes.
Sidney Lowe never feared that his team would have any lingering effects from Sunday's disappointing loss to Florida, even though it did not get off to a good start against the Crusaders.
"I wasn't really worried," Lowe said. "The guys were upbeat. We had a good practice. There was a little carry-over, judging from how we played in the first half. I told our guys that good teams bounce back from tough losses and take it out on the next opponent."
In the second half, senior Dennis Horner 16 of his 18 points and helped lead his team on a 16-2 run early in the half, as the Pack built as much as an 18-point advantage.
"I didn't have enough timeouts to slow that down," said Holy Cross coach Sean Kearney.
Holy Cross managed to cut the deficit to less than 10 points on several occasions, but the Pack's balanced scoring was too much for the Patriot League opponent. Five different NC State players hit double figures in the game.
Junior Tracy Smith had a team-high 19 points, followed by Horner's 18. Sophomore Julius Mays had 15 points, while senior Farnold Degand added 12 points and freshman Scott Wood had 10.
Degand, in the starting lineup after intermission, pushed the Wolfpack offense throughout the second half, contributing a career-high nine assists, four rebounds and two steals.
"Farnold has actually played well the last three or four ball games," Lowe said. "He gives us that two-guard who can handle the ball. What he is doing well is playing under control. He is not trying to force it too much.
"He is keeping his head up and making the simple passes. He's been doing it all: defending, rebounding. He has been very, very productive the last couple of games."
The Wolfpack, after shooting 43.8 percent from the field in the first half, was a scorching 19 of 32 (59.4 percent) in the second half. That includes making seven of 11 3-point attempts after intermission. Meanwhile, the Crusaders (3-12) to just 35 percent.
Lowe was pleased with his team's defense, which forced 11 steals and blocked 11 shots, the second most this season.
"Our defense was really the key, especially when we weren't playing well in the first half," Lowe said. "We had a couple of guys come off the bench and give us a lot of energy: Farnold, Richard [Howell], Julius, Josh [Davis], Jordan [Vandenberg]."
Perhaps most importantly, the Pack made 11 of its 12 free throw attempts in the game. All but two of those were made by Smith, who was nine-for-10 from the line.
The Wolfpack, which lost its ACC opener to Wake Forest on Dec. 20, returns to conference play Saturday at noon against Virginia. The game will be televised on ESPNU.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
