North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
#19 Virginia
Comeback Falls Short Against #19 UVA, 61-60
1/28/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 28, 2012
Box Score | Box Score 
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Raleigh, N.C. - NC State took No. 19 Virginia to the final horn, but Lorenzo Brown'slast second shot didn't fall, and the Cavaliers survived with a 61-60 victory Saturday at the RBC Center.
Richard Howellposted a double double highlighted by a career-high 18 rebounds, nine of them on the offensive glass. Howell had 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting, but missed the final 1:47 after fouling out.
C.J. Leslie led the Pack with 17 points, boosted by 11 in the first 10 minutes of the game. C.J. Williamsjoined him as the third Wolfpacker in double figures, with 14 on a 6-of-9 performance.
"We had a lot of good looks that we really wanted to make, but we missed a few too many open shots," said NC State head coach Mark Gottfried. "I feel so bad for our players, because of the way they played. They're hurting right now. The guys never quit, they never let down, they played with unbelievable desire. We had some great shots at it, but they just didn't drop."
NC State needed a manic run down the stretch to get into contention, trailing 55-45 with only 6:31 to play. The Wolfpack clawed its way back into the game, making it 61-57 with 1:31 left. On the following possession, DeShawn Painter hustled to tip a missed free throw to Scott Woodin the corner for a crucial offensive rebound and an even bigger three-pointer to cut it to 61-60 with 45 seconds left. Wood had been 1-of-7 from three to that point.
"Most of his were shots that he's been making," said Gottfried. "I told him during one of those timeouts, `Don't worry, keep shooting because one of them's going to fall when we really need it,' and he stepped up and made a huge shot for us to get it to one right there at the end."
The Pack came up with a stop on the next play, forcing Virginia's Sammy Zeglinski, 4-of-5 to that point, into a stepback jumper from the top of the key that rimmed out. C.J. Williamssecured the rebound, giving the Pack one chance with 7.8.
On the final play, Brown's jumper from the wing missed the mark. Painter scrambled after the loose ball, but couldn't get a putback up before the buzzer sounded, and Virginia escaped with a 61-60 win.
"We wanted Lorenzo to be able to turn the corner," said Gottfried. "We put Scott in the corner so they wouldn't be able to help off. I thought he might have gotten bumped pretty good there."
Coming out of the break, State made a 10-2 run over four minutes to chip into an eight point Virginia halftime lead, making it 44-43 with 12:39 to play. The Cavaliers answered with an 11-2 run to push the lead into double figures by 6:31.
Virginia started the game on fire, opening 5-of-6 from the field and 3-of-4 from three point range. State hung tough, eventually taking its first lead at 12:49 on a Wood three to jump ahead 16-15.
Leslie climbed into double figures only 10 minutes into the game, scoring his 11th point on an alley-oop from Alex Johnson. From there, Virginia used a 17-5 run over the next 7:43 to pull ahead 37-26 by the two-minute mark. The Cavaliers held off State over the final two minutes to take a 38-31 lead into the half.
Virginia enjoyed a 15-of-25 shooting performance, including 5-of-11 from three, over the first stanza, while the Wolfpack claimed a 19-9 rebounding advantage. Leslie had 13 at the break, Howell led all rebounders with nine.
NC State returns to action Wednesday at Boston College, before returning home to host Wake Forest next Saturday at 1 p.m.
