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FSU storms to win
N.C. State falls to 0-2 in ACC with 78-65 loss
AP Photo
N.C. State's Julius Mays (right) tries to get a shot off against Chris Singleton of Florida State.
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Published: January 14, 2009
RALEIGH - Just when it looked as if N.C. State was taking control of its ACC home opener, it fell apart.
Florida State outscored the Wolfpack 19-2 in final 6:12 last night and got a 78-65 victory that seemed to come easier down the stretch than it perhaps should have.
Coach Sidney Lowe, whose team fell to 9-5 overall and 0-2 in the ACC, wasn't pleased with his veterans. In fact, he sat his starters for much of the second half. Top scorers Brandon Costner and Ben McCauley were including in the playing-time reduction.
"Just like any other team in this country, there are certain guys you count on to play well every night to win games," Lowe said. "And there are certain guys we need to play well to win.… We talked about guys stepping up and playing their roles, doing what they're supposed to do. We need to get that. We didn't have that tonight."
Three starters did return for a final push, but a scoring drought that lasted 4:40 did in the Wolfpack.
Reserves Julius Mays and Johnny Thomas had provided second-half spark for the Wolfpack and helped it grab a 63-59 lead with 6:13 left. That was the biggest lead by either team in a second half that was tight until the closing minutes.
From that point, however, the Wolfpack hit just 1 of 9 field-goal attempts, missed two front ends of one-and-ones and turned the ball over three times.
Florida State, which improved to 14-3 overall and 1-1 in ACC play, used its size and a productive transition game to pull away. Toney Douglas, who scored 21 points and leads the ACC with nine 20-point-plus games, and Solomon Alabi, a 7-1 freshman, were catalysts.
"We kept our composure," Douglas said. "We had a (13-point) lead in the first half, they came back but we maintained our composure. This was a big win to start out on the road for us."
Mays, a freshman who led the Wolfpack with 13 points, said: "We had a couple of shots go in and out, then we didn't get back on defense and they pushed it in transition. We got down and we took a couple of bad shots instead of executing."
Courtney Fells finished with 12 points for the Wolfpack, but hit just 5 of 15 shots and was 1 of 7 from 3-point range. The Wolfpack shot 43 percent and trailed in rebounds by seven.
"We didn't get stops we needed to," Lowe said. "We missed some open shots. And we had 16 turnovers."
Lowe was pleased with the play of Mays, who took charge in the second half and helped put the Wolfpack in position to at least threaten to pull away. Freshman Thomas played a key role getting the Wolfpack the lead, with aggressive, hustling offensive rebounds. And freshman Williams was productive, scoring eight points in 17 minutes.
"I thought they played very well for us." Lowe said.
Mays played all but three minutes of the second half. Starting point guard Farnold Degand didn't play at all in the second half -- Lowe said that he wasn't happy with his play, that he wasn't as aggressive as he would like to see -- and Trevor Ferguson also didn't play as result of a nagging hand injury.
"I was kind of surprised," Mays said. "But when I saw (Degand) wasn't coming in, I just knew I had to play through fatigue and try to help this team."
Lowe said: "Julius played well. I hate to have him play that long, but you try to stay with who's getting it done. I didn't think the other guys were getting it done."
Coach Leonard Hamilton of the Seminoles was pleased with his team's inside production. The Seminoles struggled from 3-point range (2 of 13), yet shot 53 percent.
Uche Echefu totaled 12 points and 11 rebounds, and Alabi displayed a deft touch -- hitting six of seven field goals.
"We had not consistently gotten the ball inside," Hamilton said. "We did a better job. We delivered."
N.C. State had won 15 of the past 18 games against Florida State entering last night.
"This was a significant win for our team -- on the road, against a good team, coming after a tough loss to Duke at home," Hamilton said.
"You don't want to fall too far behind in the ACC and with a tough stretch of road games ahead this was a very good win for us."
■ Tommy Bowman can be reached at 727-7320 or at tbowman@wsjournal.com.
FSU Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF PT
Kitchen 29 3-8 3-4 0-4 3 1 9
Douglas 35 8-15 5-6 0-2 2 3 21
Singleton 22 2-6 0-0 2-2 0 4 4
Alabi 21 6-7 0-0 2-4 0 2 12
Echefu 27 3-7 6-6 2-11 1 3 12
Gibson 7 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 2
DeMercy 14 1-3 0-1 1-3 1 2 2
Loucks 13 1-1 1-2 1-1 1 2 4
Dulkys 21 3-5 2-2 1-4 0 0 9
Reid 11 1-2 1-2 0-0 2 2 3
Totals 200 29-55 18-23 11-35 10 19 78
Percentages: FG .527, FT .783. 3-Point Goals: 2-13, .154 (Loucks 1-1, Dulkys 1-3, Singleton 0-2, Echefu 0-2, DeMercy 0-2, Douglas 0-3). Team Rebounds: 4. Blocked Shots: 3 (Alabi 2, Douglas). Turnovers: 12 (Reid 4, Douglas 2, Kitchen 2, Singleton, DeMercy, Alabi, Echefu). Steals: 12 (Singleton 3, Douglas 2, DeMercy 2, Dulkys 2, Gibson, Echefu, Reid). Technical Fouls: None.
N.C. STATE Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF PT
Fells 34 5-15 1-1 0-4 1 2 12
Degand 11 0-1 0-0 0-2 1 0 0
Ferguson 11 0-3 0-0 0-3 1 1 0
Costner 16 3-8 3-6 2-2 0 2 10
McCauley 24 2-5 1-2 4-4 2 4 5
Gonzalez 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 1 0
Williams 17 3-5 0-0 1-3 0 2 8
TSmith 16 3-3 0-0 1-1 0 0 6
Mays 26 5-8 3-5 0-0 0 3 13
Thomas 18 2-2 1-2 2-2 0 2 5
Horner 24 0-3 6-6 0-2 2 3 6
Totals 200 23-53 15-22 11-28 8 20 65
Percentages: FG .434, FT .682. 3-Point Goals: 4-17, .235 (Williams 2-2, Costner 1-4, Fells 1-7, Mays 0-2, Horner 0-2). Team Rebounds: 5. Blocked Shots: 4 (Costner, Thomas, T.Smith, Fells). Turnovers: 16 (Fells 3, Mays 3, McCauley 2, Gonzalez 2, Costner 2, Williams, Thomas, Degand, Ferguson). Steals: 4 (Fells 2, Williams, Costner). Technical Fouls: None.
FSU. 35 43 -- 78
N.C. State 32 33 -- 65
A--17,173
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