NC State
Florida State
Pack's Comeback Falls Short Vs. FSU, 72-62
3/6/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 6, 2011
Box Score
2011 ACC Tournament Bracket
RALEIGH, N.C. - After coming all the way back from a 13-point first-half deficit Sunday night against Florida State to twice take a one-point lead, NC State fell 72-62 to the Seminoles in the final game of the regular season at the RBC Center.
With the loss, the Wolfpack (15-15 overall, 5-11 ACC) will be the No. 10 seed in next week's ACC Basketball Tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum, creating a 7 p.m. contest against Maryland.
Each of the team's three seniors - forward Tracy Smith and guards Javier Gonzalez and Enrico Kufuor - were honored for their contributions to the program in pregame ceremonies, and all three were in the starting lineup for the last scheduled home game of the season.
"We came back and had a good run in there," head coach Sidney Lowe said after the game. "We had a group in the game that was doing the right things and playing the right defense. We made some substitutions and put some people back in there, and right away we made a mistake and they got a layup.
"We didn't play defensively like we did with the group that made the comeback."
The Seminoles (21-9, 11-5) opened with an early lead, which they maintained throughout the first half. The advantage reached 21-8 midway through the half, but the Wolfpack cut it down to six just before halftime.
Florida State held on to a 34-25 advantage at intermission, behind Ian Miller's eight points.
The Seminoles controlled the boards early, building a 24-15 rebounding advantage, while the Wolfpack shot just 37 percent from the field in the opening half.
But an 8-0 scoring burst midway through the second half allowed the Wolfpack to erase FSU's advantage, tying the game at 50 with 9:11 on the game clock.
The Wolfpack took its first lead of the contest at the end of a to-the-wire possession in which C.J. Williams found Ryan Harrow going down the lane with five seconds left on the shot clock. Instead of taking the ball into the crowded post area, Harrow found sophomore Scott Wood on the wing and he nailed a 3-pointer with one second remaining on the shot clock for a 53-52 lead.
Sophomore Richard Howell hit a pair of free throws on the Wolfpack's next possession to negate a shot by the Seminoles' Michael Snaer. But Florida State scored on its next six possessions to build its lead back to 65-58 with 3:07 remaining.
After missing the front end of their first one-and-one opportunity, the Seminoles made seven of their final eight free throws for the final margin.
Florida State was led by Derwin Kitchen's 17 points and 13 rebounds. Bernard James added 14, Snaer had 13 and Jon Kreft added 12.
Freshman C.J. Leslie was the Wolfpack's lone double-digit scorer with 12 points. Wood, Smith and Howell had eight apiece.
• By Tim Peeler, tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
2011 ACC Tournament Schedule
First Round - Thursday, March 10
#8 Virginia vs. #9 Miami ACC Network Noon
#5 Boston College vs. #12Wake Forest ACC Network 2 p.m
#7 Maryland vs. #10 NC State ESPN2 7 p.m.
#6 Virginia Tech vs. #11 Georgia Tech ACC Network 9 p.m.
Quarterfinals - Friday, March 11
#1 North Carolina vs. 8/9 winner ACC Network/ESPN2 Noon
#4 Clemson vs. 5/12 winner ACC Network/ESPN2 2 p.m.
#2 Duke vs. 7/10 winner ACC Network/ESPN2 7 p.m.
#3 Florida State vs. 6/11 winner ACC Network/ESPN2 9 p.m.
Semifinals - Saturday, March 12
Game 9 (game 5 & 6 winners) ACC Network/ESPN 1 p.m.
Game 10 (game 7 & 8 winners) ACC Network/ESPN 3 p.m.
Finals - Sunday, March 13
Game 11 (championship game) ACC Network/ESPN 1 p.m.
For tickets to the ACC Tournament, call the NC State athletics ticket office (919-865-1510) to check on availability.
For tickets to NC State's Breakfast of Champions contact Media Hooks at the Wolfpack Club at (919) 865-1441. The event, with featured speaker Thurl Bailey, will be held on Friday at 9 a.m. at the Downtown Marriott in Greensboro.
