State routed the Flagler Saints with a final score of 102-61 in its final dress rehearsal before its regular season opener against UNC-Asheville on Friday in the RBC Center.
“We did a lot of things well,” head coach Mark Gottfried said. “We feel like we can improve quite a bit, but at the same time, we were very unselfish, moved the ball, got out on the break and had some success there. Overall, it was a good night for us.”
Gottfried started junior center Jordan Vandenburg , junior forward Richard Howell, junior forward Scott Wood, sophomore guard Lorenzo Brown and senior guard C.J . Williams in his first lineup as the head coach of the Pack.
Early in the game, State ran into trouble with Flagler picking up second chance points and points in the paint while being out-rebounded on the offensive end 2-6 in the first half.
“I like that team, I like Flagler,” Gottfried said. “I told their coach afterwards that I think they have a nice chance to have success at their level. They play well offensively and they have some good athletes.”
State picked up its momentum by creating plenty of offensive opportunities from its secondary break in the first half, and Wood took full advantage of it. Wood scored 18 points in the first half and went 6-8 from the three-point line.
“We probably shot about 55 percent from the field,” Wood said. “Most nights it’s probably not going to be that high. The key is to get stops. I think if we get stops and we get out and run, then make good decisions, we’re going to score a lot more points.”
Williams also went 2-3 from beyond the arch in the first half, mostly coming from the secondary break as well.
Brown took the driver’s seat in the first half for the Pack and dished out seven assists.
State built a large deficit by the end of the half, leaving the score at 51-37.
In the second half, Gottfried gave sophomore forward C.J . Leslie and redshirt senior Alex Johnson the start in place of Vandenburg and Brown. The first few minutes of the experiment did not pan out successfully as Flagler broke out to a 7-0 run. After a timeout from Gottfried , the run was broken by a jump shot inside the arch from Wood with an assist from Vandenburg .
From then on, the Pack kept its dominance throughout the second half and didn’t look back. A layup on the fast break from freshman forward Tyler Harris pushed its lead to 20 points. Harris finished the game with 10 points and three rebounds.
“He has some promising years ahead of him,” Johnson said. “He came in and did what he did, started out on a tough opponent, number 23 [Matt Clark], and scored 10 points off the bench. He did well for a freshman in his first game ever.”
Brown returned to the game with seven minutes left in the second half and picked up another assist.
State scored its 100th point of the game with a fast break dunk by Harris.
Wood led the team in scoring with 24 points. Howell took the lead in rebounding with seven and Brown finished with eight assists.
The team returns to the RBC Center hardwood at 7 p.m . Friday for its season opener against UNC-Asheville .
