North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack Grabs 3rd Win over Ranked ACC Foe
2/20/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. – This is kind of what Sidney Lowe had in mind: taking an early lead, playing well out of halftime and finishing off a struggling opponent down the stretch.
Sounds easy, right?
Saturday afternoon, Lowe's team did all three better than it had all season long, and beat No. 23 Wake Forest 68-54 at the RBC Center.
"We came out with great energy to start the ball game and kept it up throughout the entire ball game," Lowe said. "We played excellent defense today, especially on [Wake Forest guard] Ish Smith.]"
Lowe spent the last couple of days lecturing his team on leadership and maintaining its composure in the second half, something the Wolfpack did not have in Wednesday night's loss against Maryland. And the lessons seemed to hit home.
"We came out in the first half and we played really well on the defensive end," said senior Dennis Horner. "The second half, we didn't let up. We didn't have the kind of drought that we have been having."
Five Wolfpack players scored in double figures, pushing their team to its fifth consecutive win over the Demon Deacons in Raleigh and ending the Pack's seven-game ACC losing streak. Junior Tracy Smith led the team with 14 points, followed by senior Farnold Degand with 13.
Sophomore C.J. Williams had 12, junior Javi Gonzalez had 11 and Horner had 10 for the Wolfpack (15-13 overall, 3-10 ACC). Horner also had his third game of more than 10 rebounds in the last four games, with 12. Prior to his 13-point, 16-rebound effort against Virginia Tech, Horner had never had a double-double in his college career.
"The coaches called me in right before that Virginia Tech game and told me I wasn't working hard enough on rebounding, and I wasn't," Horner said. "So it has been something I've worked on ever since, getting in there and getting the ball."
The Wolfpack's defense shut out Wake Forest's outside shooting, holding the Demon Deacons (18-7, 8-5) to a scoreless 0-for-12 from beyond the 3-point line. It was the first time a State opponent has failed to hit at least one 3-pointer in 633 consecutive games, dating back to a Jan. 27, 1990 contest against Maryland.
State held Wake to 34.8 percent overall shooting from the field and forced 23 turnovers.
"Our offense really hurt us today," said Wake Forest coach Dino Gaudio. "It just put way too much pressure on our defense. We were getting the right shots by the right guys, but you can't win, especially on the road, if you turn the ball over 23 times."
Sophomore Farouq Aminu led Wake Forest with 15 points and 14 rebounds, while Smith and L.D. Williams had 12 points apiece. But the Deacons' two freshmen, C.J. Harris and Ari Steward were a combined 1-for-15 from the field.
The game was hardly artistic: in the first half, the teams combined to miss 40 shots and neither team shot better than 31 percent from the floor. Wake's 15 first-half turnovers - and the Wolfpack's slapping deflections - helped Lowe's team build a 28-18 advantage at the half.
"You have to stop their transition offense or they will beat you every time," Lowe said. "We had deflections and were diving for the ball. As far as that aspect, it's probably the best defensive game we've played.
"Our kids were committed and it showed."
Unlike the game against the Terps, the Wolfpack came out strong early in the second half to maintain the double-digit lead.
"We weren't going to let that happen against," Gonzalez said.
Then, after Wake began putting on some full-court pressure defense, Degand sandwiched a pair of 3-pointers around one from Gonzalez to increase the advantage to as many as 14 points with a little over four minutes to play.
The two reserves combined to make three of seven 3-point shots for the Wolfpack, which was 6 of 12 from 3-point range as a team.
"Thankfully, we hit some shots today," Lowe said. "Those guys stepped in and took some good shots. We had great ball movement today, which led to open shots. I was happy for our guys. They've played hard and lost some tough games recently.
"Today we did a great job and it feels good to get the win."
It was the third ACC win of the season against a ranked opponent, in the wake of other wins over Duke and Florida State.
"That just shows that we when we are playing well and doing what we are supposed to do, we can play with any team in the nation," Horner said.
The Wolfpack plays its next two games on the road, at Miami next Saturday and at Virginia Tech on March 4, before returning to the RBC Center on March 7 for its regular-season finale against Boston College.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
