Jan. 9, 2008

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RALEIGH, N.C. - North Carolina Central University played perhaps its best defensive game of the season, but simply could not put the ball in the basket during a 54-29 loss at North Carolina State University on Wednesday (Jan. 9) inside the RBC Center in Raleigh, N.C.

NCCU, playing in its fourth road game in a week, showed signs of fatigue by hitting just 20.3 percent (12-of-59) from the field, the second lowest shooting percentage of the season, including a season-low 7.1 percent (1-of-14) from three-point range. To make matters worse, the Eagles made only 4-of-10 from the free throw line.

On the bright side for the first-year Division I program, the Eagles committed a season-low 12 turnovers, held their own on the boards (42-39 rebounding edge to N.C. State), and surrendered the fewest number of points in a game all season.

NCCU trailed by just six points, 24-18, when rookie Calvin Wright put-back an offensive rebound with 1:05 left in the first half.

The Eagles, however, failed to score the rest of the half and the drought continued for the first three minutes of the second stanza. During that time, N.C. State scored the final three points before intermission, then tallied the first eight points after the break to open up at 35-18 cushion at 16:46. NCCU could not recover.

N.C. State sophomore forward Brandon Costner scored a game-high 18 points, while freshman center J.J. Hickson added 13 points and eight rebounds for the Wolfpack.

With no double-figure scorers, NCCU was topped by senior forward Charles Futrell with eight points and seven boards. Joshua Worthy came off the bench to collect four points and a team-best nine rebounds.

N.C. State improved to 11-3, while NCCU fell to 1-21.