BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. – Lightning didn’t strike twice for NC State, as it successfully defended a potential game-winning shot by Loyola’s Jamal Harvey with three seconds to play Monday night at the RBC Center.
Courtney Fells rebounded the missed driving shot from the left side of the basket and hit a free throws with 0.3 seconds remaining on the clock to give the Wolfpack, which lost its last outing on a 3-pointer by Marquette with 0.3 seconds remaining, a 62-60 victory over the visiting Greyhounds.
“We learned an expensive lesson inexpensively,” said Wolfpack coach Sidney Lowe, whose team was ahead by 16 points with less than nine minutes to play. “We learned that when you get up on a ball club, you have to continue to play the same way, continue to run the offense and run the defense the same way and start trying to do other things. We relaxed a little bit and allowed them to get back in the ball game.
“I am thankful we were able to get out with a W.”
The game seemed to turn clearly in the Wolfpack’s favor early in the second half, as it broke out of a 34-33 deficit with 10 unanswered points, a run that included a rare five-point possession.
Sophomore Tracy Smith put up a shot in the lane that missed, but he got two offensive rebounds and was fouled as his third shot fell through the basket. Junior Brandon Costner tipped in Smith’s missed free throw and was fouled on the play. Costner made his free throw to give the Wolfpack a 43-34 lead.
Moments later, Loyola’s Brian Rudolph ended the Pack’s scoring run with a breakaway layup, but Greyhounds coach Jimmy Patsos was hit with a technical foul while arguing for a foul.
Freshman point guard Julius Mays hit the two free throws to give the Pack another double-figure lead. With 8:26 to play, NC State’s lead was a seemingly comfortable 16 points.
But Loyola twice worked the lead down to a single point, first when Rudolph made a pair of free throws with 3:34 remaining in the game. Greyhound guard Marquis Sullivan led the comeback hitting back-to-back 3-pointers with just under six minutes to play. His 3-pointer to tie the game from the top of the key rolled around the rim and popped out to keep the Wolfpack in the lead.
After Ruldolph made two shots at the line, Brandon Costner made four consecutive shots from the line, sandwiched between what was perhaps the game’s biggest defensive play prior to the last possession. Senior Simon Harris swatted Barney’s shot in the lane into the waiting hands of Mays and Costner was fouled on the other end of the court. He made both free throws, giving him 11 points on the night.
Barney made two inside layups in the final two minutes to pare the lead down to one point again with 51.3 seconds to play.
Lowe called a timeout to set up the Wolfpack’s next possession, directing his team to get the ball inside to Costner and senior Ben McCauley. But McCauley missed a shot in the lane, Costner tried to tap it in and Costner and Loyola’s Jawan Wright both grabbed the ball in the paint.
The possession arrow was in favor of the Greyhounds, who took the ball across midcourt and called timeout with 17.7 seconds remaining on the clock for the final play. Just as Marquette did a week ago, Loyola’s guards ran the clock down to five seconds before Harvey started his drive to the basket for the potential game-winner.
He drove past Fells, but McCauley stepped out from the inside and forced Harvey to take an off-balanced shot that hit the side of the rim and landed in Fells’ hands.
“When I saw Courtney, I knew the guy was going to go to the basket that he wasn’t pulling up for any shots,” said McCauley, who recorded his fourth double-double of the season with 16 points and 11 rebounds., “Once I saw Courtney go down, I tried getting out there before [Harvey] got into the paint. I wanted to use my length and make him take a tough shot over me and not foul him.
“You have to feel pretty good when you can force them to shoot a one-footed, off-balanced shot like that.”
Fells, who was supposed to sit out of the game because he aggravated his sprained ankle earlier this week in practice, ended up playing 35 minutes and scoring 11 points.
“Hats off to Courtney because he wasn’t going to play in this game,” Lowe said. “He didn’t even shoot around with us this morning.”
Lowe still had to adjust his lineup because of other injuries. He used his fifth different starting lineup in the last six games, as one-time starters Trevor Ferguson and Javi Gonzalez sat at the end of the bench in street clothes. Ferguson suffered a non-displaced finger fracture on his non-shooting hand in the Marquette game last Monday and Gonzalez has missed three consecutive games after suffering an elbow gash during the East Carolina game and ankle injury in practice after Christmas.
Junior swingman Dennis Horner made his first start since Jan. 24, 2007, his freshman season. He made an immediate impact on the Wolfpack offense, hitting a pair of 3-pointers in the first three minutes of the game as State built an early 10-0 advantage.
Junior point guard Farnold Degand returned to the starting lineup for the first time since the season-opening win over New Orleans. He has seen limited action since then because of a lingering knee injury.
Monday, Lowe’s most recent new lineup jumped out to a quick start in scoring the game’s first 10 points, but Loyola took advantage of NC State mistakes to take a 27-26 lead on a Sullivan jumper with 4:45 remaining in the first half.
After a long scoreless streak by both teams, a 3-pointer by Fells with 1:03 remaining in the half to regain the lead for the Wolfpack, but a pair of free throws by Loyola’s Brett Harvey tied the game at the half, 29-29.
The Pack returns to action Wednesday in a 2 p.m. New Year’s Eve contest against Towson for its second straight game against an opponent from Maryland. The Pack then travels to Florida for its final non-conference game before the start of the ACC season.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
Courtesy: Tim Peeler
