North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack Falls to North Carolina, 74-61
2/13/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BY TIM PEELER
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – There are two crucial times in every basketball game that a team can put itself into position to grab a win. One of them is at the end of the first half. Another is at the beginning of the second half.
Saturday afternoon at the UNC's Smith Center, NC State took advantage of the first opportunity, but failed at the second, and the result was a 74-61 loss to North Carolina.
The two struggling teams were both looking for a victory to elevate themselves from the bottom of the ACC standings, and they played close for the first 25 minutes of the game.
The Tar Heels (14-11 overall, 3-7 ACC) seemed ready to take control of the game when they scored 10 unanswered points near the end of the first half to take a 33-24 lead, the biggest advantage for either team in the opening period.
But the Wolfpack reeled off seven in a row, thanks to a three-point play by Smith, a free throw by freshman Scott Wood and a 3-pointer by Gonzalez. The Pack survived an end-of-half letdown and trailed only 33-31 at intermission.
Coming out for the second half, however, Wolfpack coach Sidney Lowe was disappointed and frustrated that his team made several critical turnovers, took a couple of bad shots and quickly found itself on the wrong side of a double-digit deficit.
"I am disappointed that we didn't come out in the second half and play smart," Lowe said. "We talked about it at halftime: there are times in a ball game when you can make a run, and that is one of them.
"We came out and made some really bad decisions. That is the kind of thing that has been killing us here lately. I really don't think we are far off in understanding how to win games. We just have to make smart plays."
The Wolfpack (14-12, 2-9 ACC) made six turnovers in both halves, while North Carolina limited itself to just three turnovers in the second half. State also gave the ball away by taking ill-advised shots.
"For me, it's not so frustrating that guys are missing shots," Lowe said. "It's frustrating that they are taking bad shots to begin with."
North Carolina took advantage of that early in the second half to build a cushion, then sophomore Larry Drew II finished off the game by scoring seven consecutive points in the final three minutes.
Drew had a team-high 15 points for the Tar Heels, while teammate Deon Thompson had 12 points and seven rebounds.
For the Wolfpack, junior Tracy Smith scored a game-high 20 points.Teammate Javi Gonzalez added 13.
Leading 39-36 early in the second half, the Tar Heels got a crowd-pleasing dunk from John Henson and an unlikely 3-pointer in the corner from David Wear to push its lead back to eight points.
The Wolfpack pulled within five on a 3-pointer by Gonzalez, but UNC answered with a bonus shot from freshman guard Leslie McDonald to maintain his team's advantage.
Minutes later, McDonald hit a pair of free throws to give UNC its first double-digit lead of the afternoon.
Gonzalez helped the Wolfpack draw within 56-52 by driving straight to the basket on three consecutive possession, hitting a layup on the first and passing to freshman Richard Howell on the other two.
Soon after, however, Drew began his scoring burst that gave the Tar Heels their largest lead of the day. Thompson had 12 points and seven rebounds, while John Henson had nine points and eight rebounds. Dexter Strickland was the only other player iin double figures, with 11 points.
Neither team shot well from the floor, but the Tar Heels owned a 44-32 advantage on the boards and made only three turnovers in the second half.
"You have to be able to play the game without turning it over," UNC coach Roy Williams said. "We played the final 10 minutes with only one turnover and I think that was the difference in us taking control of the game."
The Wolfpack returns to the RBC Center Wednesday night for a 9 p.m. regionally televised contest against Maryland.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
