GWU Falls Short At NC State As Wolfpack Rally For 88-76 Win
November 24, 2006 | Men's Basketball
RALEIGH, N.C. - Playing its second ACC school in just five days, Gardner-Webb had its chances to pull the upset Friday night at NC State, but the Runnin' Bulldogs lost control of the game in the second half to fall, 88-76, at the RBC Center.
The game was the third in five days overall for the visitors, who dropped games at No. 2 North Carolina (11/19) and at home against UNC Greensboro (11/21) earlier this week.
Gardner-Webb's Ricky McPhee scored on a variety of shots, from long threes to lefty runners in the lane to creative fall away shots from 15 feet, but his team-high 20 points weren't enough to keep NC State from seizing control of the game in the final 15 minutes.
GWU (0-5) led, 36-33, at the break and had complete control of the game through 20 minutes, but saw NC State (4-0) shoot 65.6 percent in the second half. Gardner-Webb pushed its lead to five points twice in the early moments of the second half, the final time at 42-37 on a running lay in by Takayo Siddle with 18:43 to play in the game.
With the announced home crowd of 10,470 moaning in disapproval, the Wolfpack mounted a rally, going on a 7-0 run to take a 44-42 lead with 17:20 left. That lead was NC State's first since the 3:29 mark of the first half. McPhee nailed a short jumper to tie the score at 44 on GWU's next chance on offense, but State pushed back in front with just under 15 minutes to play for good. Leading 48-46 with 14:48 remaining, the Wolfpack ran off eight unanswered points, sparked by a pair of long balls by Courtney Fells, to seize a 54-44 lead with 13:43 left.
Gardner-Webb kept fighting, but the Wolfpack runs came too quickly down the stretch and the home squad took advantage of 12 second half turnovers by the Bulldogs to end any chance at an upset.
GWU had a few bright spots to look over on the stat sheet, with much of that coming from a season-best 53.8 percent shooting effort from the field. One stat that haunted the 'Dogs, however, was 19 turnovers that resulted directly into 24 NC State points.
In addition to McPhee's 20 points, Gardner-Webb got a season-high 15 points from Jake Sims on 5-of-6 shooting and 14 points from Chris Gash. Both Sims and Gash fouled out with more than five minutes remaining in the game, further hampering any chance at a Bulldog comeback.
Veteran guard Engin Atsur paced the Pack with 26 points and running mate Gavin Grant added 23 to pace a hot-shooting effort from the ACC squad. NC State finished at 54.7 percent for the game and outrebounded the 'Dogs 36-22 - outscoring Gardner-Webb 15-2 in second-chance points for the evening.
Post players Ben McAuley (14 points) and Brandon Costner (11 points) also touched double digits for the Wolfpack, who had 44 of their 88 points come in the paint.
