North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
Arizona
Arizona Tops Wolfpack, 72-62
12/19/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 19, 2010
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RALEIGH, N.C. – On a cold evening for NC State, Arizona scored 10 unanswered points midway through the second half and closed out a 72-62 victory over the Wolfpack at the RBC Center on Sunday.
After trailing throughout the game, the Wolfpack closed the gap to 52-50 when sophomore Scott Wood made back-to-back 3-point shots, the second coming with 9:59 remaining in the game.
But the Wildcats took the momentum back with a jumper, a couple of alley oops, a pair of free throws and a follow shot by Kyle Fogg to build its biggest lead of the game at 62-50 with 6:58 to play.
The Wolfpack (6-4 overall) was hampered by turnovers throughout the second half, making eight miscues after halftime, while the Wildcats had only 10 in the entire game.
“We didn’t have a lot of patience during the drought,” NC State head coach Sidney Lowe said. “It was a tough second half for us. We had a chance and we kept turning the ball over. We cut it down to two and down to four, but we gave the ball away a couple of times.”
Shooting was another problem for Lowe’s team, which made just 21 of 66 (31.8 percent) of its shots on the night. Freshmen C.J. Leslie and Ryan Harrow and veterans Javi Gonzalez and DeShawn Painter were a combined 3-for-32 from the field.
“That makes it tough to come back,” said Lowe, whose team trailed by as many as 12 only once in the game and generally maintained a four- to six-point deficit throughout.
“With all of our poor shooting, we were still right there. We had a chance against a pretty good team. We didn’t take advantage of the opportunity.”
The Wolfpack mounted a late-game rally, led by sophomore Richard Howell and Harrow, but never got closer than six points in the final six minutes of the contest. Wood finished the game with a team-high 16 points, while Howell added 12.
Arizona’s leading scorer, Derrick Williams, had a game high 22 points, while Kevin Parrom added 11 and Jesse Perry had 10.
Arizona (10-2) took a 15-14 lead on a 3-pointer by Parrom with 13:09 to go in the first half and never trailed again. The Wolfpack stayed close in the first half, thanks to the efforts of freshman Lorenzo Brown, who scored 14 points before intermission on 6-of-11 shooting.
But the rest of the team made just six of 27 attempts from the field, for an overall shooting percentage of 31.6. Still, the Wildcats owned just a 36-32 halftime advantage.
“At the half, I thought we were good,” Lowe said. “I was proud of them, even though we weren’t shooting well. We were executing and patient. I was pleased with where we were.”
Brown did not score in the second half, however, and other than Howell and Wood, the rest of the Wolfpack continued to be cold from the field.
The Wolfpack plays its final game before Christmas on Wednesday at 7 p.m. against Delaware State at the RBC Center, before returning to action a week later against Alabama A&M.
• Tim Peeler, tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
