NC State
7-3
High Point
8-3
Barber’s Buzzer Beater Lifts Pack Past High Point
12/16/2015 9:18:00 PM | Men's Basketball
RALEIGH – Anthony 'Cat' Barber drilled a step-back 3-pointer as time expired to give the NC State men's basketball team (7-3) a 76-73 win over High Point at PNC Arena on Wednesday. Barber's buzzer beater sealed the highly contested contest which featured 13 ties and 14 lead changes.
CAT AT THE BUZZER: THE SOCIAL SIDE
Photos from NC State's win over High Point
Posted by NC State Basketball on Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Key Stats: Barber led the team in scoring with 26 points. He also added six assists and five rebounds. Maverick Rowan and Abdul-Malik Abu also reached double digits, scoring 19 and 13 points, respectively. Abu led the rebounding efforts with nine, while Rowan and BeeJay Anya each added seven. Defensively, the Pack limited high-scoring forward John Brown to 6-for-17 shooting.
As a team, the Wolfpack outrebounded High Point 44-33, including a 20-11 advantage on the offensive glass.
Turning Point: WIth the score tied at 73 in the final seconds, Cody Martin stole the ball and drove to the basket on a fast break. He was fouled and was injured on the play, unable to shoot the free throws he had earned. High Point chose Anya to shoot the free throws, and he missed both. Rowan pulled down the offensive rebound and NC State called timeout with 13.3 seconds left.
Coming out of the timeout, the Pack went to Barber, who weaved in and out of screens around the top of the key before dribbling to the left wing. He created space between his defender with a step back and promptly drained the deep ball as time expired.
Gott Said It: "I'm really proud of our team. We played a good team today. When we scheduled High Point, I knew that we were going to take on a team that had some veterans. They've won their league and they know how to win. Our guys hung in there, they kept playing and they played really hard. There were two or three big plays there at the end. Cody's steal was just a terrific defensive play. The foul-shot rebound that Maverick had, he and Lennard Freeman crossed the lane and Maverick did a great job getting to it. Then Maverick had the wherewithal. We told them that we had one more timeout left before that, and he had the quick judgment to call the time out. Then Cat just makes a big play at the end, a huge play. So I'm proud of our team. High Point is awfully good; they're going to be good in their league. We're excited about winning and getting ready to go to the next one."
Up Next: NC State heads to Columbia, Mo., for a Saturday, Dec. 19 match up at Missouri. Tipoff is slated for 6 p.m. ET (5 local time) on the SEC Network.
