NC State Meanders By NC Central, 65-60

Box Score

In what could be termed a lethargic effort at best, NC State mostly held Central at arm's length but never could put the Eagles away, and as the missed shots piled up and the turnovers increased, NCCU made a run down the stretch that almost brought them all the way back.

Fortunately for State, which made 7 of 27 shots in the second half--and not for a lack of good looks either--they managed to compensate just enough in other areas to hold on. They rebounded 60% of their misses in the second half and had more offensive boards (12) than NC Central had defensive boards (8). They were also excellent on the defensive glass, limiting the Eagles to less than 28% of their missed shots. And State hit all 11 free throw attempts in the half, including four clutch shots from Scott Wood in the final minute. Those factors helped them limp to victory despite a half in which they shot 31.5% (eFG) and had a -7 turnover margin.

CJ Williams finished with a career-high 21 points on 6-14 shooting, though he cooled off considerably in the second half along with everybody else on the team. But his contributions were vital considering that Zo, Painter, and Calvin Leslie were a combined 2-17 from the field. Richard Howell was solid but spent a lot of time on the bench because he can't help but commit stupid fouls 20 feet from the basket. Scott Wood did his Scott Wood thing and hit 5-9 threes in addition to those crucial free throws.

About all you can say for this performance is it was enough. Certainly wasn't pretty, and in fact it was probably the worst collective effort of the year, but hey.