Photo by Ryan Parry
Freshman forward Kyle Washington blocks a shot by N.C. Central's Karamo Jawara Wednesday night. Washington had two points in the Wolfpack's 82-72 loss to the Eagles in overtime at PNC Arena.
N.C. State (2-2) suffered its first home loss of the season on Wednesday night, falling 82-72 in overtime to visiting North Carolina Central (3-1) at PNC Arena.
Senior guard Jeremy Ingram scored 29 points, including 19 from the foul line, to lead the Eagles who earned their first win over an ACC opponent. Fellow senior guard Emanuel Chapman added 18 for the Eagles.
Freshman guard Patrick Wallace scored a three-pointer with 2.7 seconds left, which forced the game into overtime. However, the Pack went ice-cold in the extra session, going scoreless until 1:21 remained on the clock.
“Ever since we made the transition [to Division I], it’s been tough on Tobacco Road,” Central head coach LeVelle Moton said. “It’s a huge win for North Carolina Central University.”
The Pack began the game on a 7-0 run on consecutive baskets by sophomore guard Tyler Lewis, and junior guard Ralston Turner scored a three-pointer with 3:03 into the contest, but the Pack didn’t score a field goal for more than 8 minutes after that as the Eagles took a brief 14-12 lead.
Sophomore forward T.J. Warren broke the field goal drought to tie the game, but the Pack continued to struggle with Central’s 2-3 zone throughout the rest of the half. Warren picked up his third foul on a hand check with 4:30 in the half. Turner followed him to the bench with his third personal foul two minutes later. In total, State was whistled for 13 of the 25 fouls between the teams in the opening frame. The Eagles used the free throw line to great effect in the half, going 13-14 from the stripe to take a 33-27 lead into the break.
“Anytime you’re in foul trouble and have guys on the bench, it changes the way you play,” Turner said. “Sometimes it makes you play tentative instead of aggressive.”
Central kept the lead until the Pack tied it at 46 apiece on a layup by freshman guard Anthony “Cat” Barber and forced a turnover on the other end with just under nine minutes left, but an offensive foul on freshman forward Lennard Freeman gave the ball right back to the Eagles who scored the next seven points and forced head coach Mark Gottfried to call a timeout at the 5:51 mark.
The Wolfpack responded by holding the Eagles scoreless for the next three minutes, drawing even on a putback by Freeman with 3:29 left. Warren fouled out of the game with 2:42 left, leaving State without its top scoring threat for the remainder of the contest. Central’s Jeremy Ingram hit both free throws to put the Eagles back on top.
“Sometimes it happens like that,” Barber, who led the Pack with 22 points, said. “[Central] just maintained and kept playing harder.”
Central stretched its lead to 59-53 before Barber made five of six free throws in a 20-second span to make it a 2-point game with 38.5 seconds remaining. The Pack fouled Chapman, who made both shots. A driving layup by Lewis made it 62-60 with 12.9 seconds left. This time, State fouled Ingram, who made one of the two shots from the charity stripe, setting the stage for Wallace’s shot.
“It was a good find by Cat,” Wallace said. “I was ready to shoot as soon as I got in the game.”
But the Eagles scored the first 11 points in overtime and salted the game away at the line.
“I’m really proud of their toughness because we could have folded when Wallace hit the three,” Moton said. “But they came right back and played five more minutes of basketball.”