Box Score


RALEIGH, N.C. (NCCUEaglePride.com) – Trailing by 10 at the halftime break and without senior sharp shooter Landon Clement (Raleigh, N.C.), who missed the game due to a foot injury, North Carolina Central University outscored North Carolina State University 33-28 in the second stanza and nearly pulled off a major upset, dropping a nail-biting 65-60 contest to the Wolfpack on Sunday afternoon at historic Reynolds Coliseum.
 
The Eagles came out of the gates an ice-cold 2-for-13 (15.3 percent) from the field in the first frame to find themselves down 15-4 with 12:23 to go following a DeShawn Painter three-point play. 
 
The lead grew to as high as 13 on three different occasions in the first half with the resilient NCCU squad continuing to fight tooth and nail with the Wolfpack, made their initial rally with a 7-0 spurt behind a Nick Chasten (Raleigh, N.C.) three-pointer and back-to-back buckets by Ray Willis (Atlanta, Ga.) and Dominique Sutton (Durham, N.C.) to cut a 21-8 lead to 21-15 with 8:05 to go.
 
With 4:41 left in the first half, the Wolfpack stretched the margin back to 13 on a Richard Howell jumper, and once again the maroon and gray responded with a 5-0 spurt on a Chasten  layup and one of junior Ebuka Anyaorah’s (Suwanee, Ga.) three shots from beyond-the-arc to make it an eight-point ballgame at 33-25 with 3:17 to go.
 
NC State went on to take a 37-27 lead into the locker room, but NCCU outrebounded the red and white 17-16 and Chasten’s 9 points kept the Eagles in the game.  The maroon and gray were fortunate to only be down 10 on the heels of 10 first-half turnovers. 
 
After starting the first half 2-for-13 (15.3 percent), the Eagles went 9-for-16 (56.3 percent) the rest of the way in the first half.
 
The second half saw NC State’s lead grow to as high as 15 at 56-41 with 9:57 remaining, but the Eagles simply did not quit, immediately turning on a 7-0 run off of four straight Chasten points and a huge Anyaorah three to make it 56-48 with 8:12 to go. 
 
With 5:36 left in the second stanza Willis hit a three to cut the deficit to five at 56-51 but NC State’s sharp shooter Scott Wood hit a shot from beyond the arc of his own to squelch the Eagle momentum for the time being to put the score at 59-51.
 
NCCU battled back once again on a Willis layup to make it 59-56 with 1:45 to go to complete yet another 5-0 run keeping the Eagle upset chances alive, but the Wolfpack went 6-for-6 from the charity stripe down the stretch to hang on for the 65-60 win.
 
Over the final 13 minutes, NCCU outscored the Wolfpack 24-15 to impress the 4,018 red-and- white clad fans in attendance.
 
The Eagles were led by Willis who ended the game with 17 points, scoring 11 in the second half, as did Sutton who scored just four in the first frame ending the game with 15 points.  Both Chasten and Anyaorah finished the game with 13 points going a combined 4-for-8 from three-point range on the day.
 
Despite the loss, NCCU (5-5) held NC State (6-3) to just 7-for-27 (25.9 percent) from the field in the second half, just 3-for-13 (23.1 percent) from the outside, while the Eagles went 13-of-29 (44.8 percent) from the field 3-for-9 (33.3 percent) from three-point range. NCCU managed just two second half turnovers while forcing the host Wolfpack into 9 unforced errors.

NCCU is now 0-4 against NC State, and 0-13 against teams from ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference).

 
The Eagles have until Tuesday, Dec. 20, when the maroon and gray head out west to take on the University of Oregon at 10:00 p.m. (EST) in the first of three games in the 2011 Global Sports Hoops Showcase on Dec. 20 through Dec. 22.  NCCU will take on Stephen F. Austin on Dec. 21, at 7:30 p.m. (EST) and end the round-robin format tournament with a contest against Prairie View A&M on Dec. 22 at 7:30 p.m. (EST)
 
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