A familiar turn of events Sunday afternoon was different in one key way for the Wolfpack. Late trouble putting points on the board once again cost a team a conference win at the RBC Center, but this time the Pack found itself on the winning end. N.C. State scored late in the second half to defeat Boston College and finish the ACC season with three wins in its last four games. Trailing 50-49 with 5:23 remaining, the Pack sent seniors Dennis Horner and Farnold Degand off the court with one last regular season home victory, outscoring BC 17-4 down the stretch en route to a 66-54 win.
Horner said the win was even sweeter considering his personal circumstances.
“Any victory would have been a great way to go out,” Horner said. “But tonight was special because I came back in and hit some big shots after the fall. Other players stepped up and everybody as a team did.”
Horner had as much to do with the Pack’s late dominance as anyone. He scored eight of his 14 points in the last five minutes of the game.
“We were just playing basketball the last eight minutes,” Horner said. “We were passing and cutting through and people were getting open. I wasn’t thinking about the shots, I was just coming off and letting it go and they were going in.”
Junior forward Tracy Smith once again led the Pack offensively, finishing with 19 points. But the play of sophomore forward C.J. Williams, who had his best offensive day of the season with 14 points, gave the team a much-needed lift offensively. Williams said assistant coach Pete Strickland told him when he took him out of the game that Williams played the way his coaches expected him to when they recruited him.
“He told me ‘that is the guy that we recruited,'” Williams said. “I’ve gotten a lot of confidence back and I feel like I can compete with anybody in this league.”
Two other bright spots for the Pack were the play of freshman forward Richard Howell and redshirt sophomore forward Johnny Thomas. Howell dished out a career and game-high five assists.
“He made some great passes,” Lowe said. “You can diagram a play, but you have to have guys that can see it and make it at the right time. He’s got a great feel for that.”
Thomas, who had only seen action in seven games this season, played 17 minutes and grabbed six rebounds after logging only 33 minutes and eight rebounds total in the season’s first 30 games.
The Pack’s late offensive efficiency was nowhere to be found in the early going. State’s first points came on a jumper by Tracy Smith 3:23 into the game after the team’s first five possessions resulted in three turnovers and two missed jump shots.
“I felt like we came out a little dead in the beginning,” Williams said. “That’s why they were able to jump out to an 8-2 lead.”
But the Pack recovered and finished the first half shooting 42 percent from the field. State shot 50 percent for the game after shooting 59 percent in the second half.
“Obviously, Senior Day didn’t start off well for us,” Lowe said. “I thought it was a great effort on our team’s part. We had 10 turnovers in the first half and none in the second half. I thought that was excellent. Our body movement and ball movement were also good and it really got us some open looks.”
With the ACC Tournament looming, Horner said his team’s recent success will be huge for its confidence as it prepares for Thursday night’s first round action.
“We’re very excited right now,” Horner said. “We have momentum going into the ACC Tournament. We’ve been playing well as a team. Everyone has been stepping up. People were getting open shots and we were knocking them down tonight. And that’s a big confidence booster going into the ACC Tournament.”
