In its lone exhibition tune up before tipping off the 2012-13 season Friday against Miami of Ohio, N. C. State ran past division II Belmont Abbey 105-80. The Wolfpack shot 60% from the floor for the game and had 5 players in double figures, led by 21 points from junior point guard Lorenzo Brown.
Brown added 9 rebounds, and State outrebounded the Abbey 49-22.
Richard Howell, who did not start for unspecified reasons, had a monster game in just 20 minutes of action off the bench, scoring 19 points, hauling in 9 rebounds, and leading the team with 5 assists and 3 steals. Calvin Leslie also nearly notched a double-double with 18 points and 9 boards, and freshman T. J. Warren tallied 19 points and 7 rebounds. Combined, the 3 frontcourt players made 25 of 31 field goal attempts against their undersized opponents.
The Abbey, a team that went just 14-14 a year ago, hung with the preseason ACC favorites for a half. State led 50-43 at intermission, but turned up the defensive intensity in the second half to win comfortably. The Abbey made 48.4% of its shots before the break, including knocking down 6 of 11 from behind the trifectasphere, but cooled to 36.1% overall and 3 of 10 from behind the arc in the second half.
Though a sloppy Pack turned the ball over 23 times, they outscored the Abbey, which suffered from 21 of its own miscues, 32-21 in points off turnovers and 33-19 in transition. The biggest advantage came in the paint, where State held a 68-34 advantage.
Despite the interior edge, the Pack got little in the way of contributions from reserve post players Thomas De Thaey and Jordan Vandenberg. Mega Horse had 2 points in 15 minutes and was 0-for-3 from the field. JV had 2 points and 3 turnovers in 10 minutes. With the transfer of DeShawn Painter and Howell's propensity to pick up fouls, the Pack really needs more from these two gentlemen going forward and to cut down on the turnovers if they are to turn the preseason hype into reality.
Peruse the box score here.