In the second of two meetings between bitter rivals N.C. State and UNC-Chapel Hill at the Dean Smith Dome Saturday afternoon, the game went back and forth, with 13 lead changes and eight tie scores.
The Heels led by as many as 15 point in the second half, too large of a hole for the Pack to climb out of.
The two senior starters led the way for the Pack, but they couldn’t withstand a late Tar Heel run, falling 76-65.
”I thought it was a heck of a college basketball game,” head coach Mark Gottfried said. “I thought my team competed really hard, and I thought theirs did too… I thought they all just competed unbelievably hard.”
Senior forward Richard Howell had an outstanding first half, collecting 13 of his 18 rebounds in the first half, tying a career high. He tacked on 13 points for his 28th career double-double. Senior forward Scott Howell made five three-point baskets en route to a 19 point performance.
Howell now has 16 double-doubles on the season, the most in a season since Kenny Carr had 15 in the 1976-77 season.
Junior Lorenzo Brown and freshman forward T.J. Warren added double-doubles for the Pack.
Warren finished with his second double-double in as many games, scoring 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Brown added 12 points and 12 rebounds, his sixth double-double of the season and second against the Tar Heels this year.
Junior guard Reggie Bullock, sophomore forwards James Michael McAdoo and P.J. Hairston, and freshman guard Marcus Page all finished in double-figures for the Tar Heels.
“They’ve been playing very good as of late, especially with the lineup change that they made,” Howell said. “They’re a lot smaller, a lot quicker and they can stretch you out.”
Bullock finished with a game high 22 points and 13 rebounds.
Junior forward Calvin Leslie, who is averaging 15.7 points on the season, was held to just six points. He was also responsible for six of the team’s seventeen turnovers. All of his rebounds were made in the first half.
”We had 12 turnovers in the first half,” Gottfried said. “Collectively [we had] 17, which is way too many.”
Turnovers, arguably the biggest factor in the game, haunted State, allowing its rivals to score 24 point off of turnovers, 16 in the first half.
State dominated on the boards, outrebounded the Tar Heels 43-34. Howell and Warren combined for 27 of the team’s rebounds.
UNC-CH finished 11-16, 68.8 percent, from the charity stripe, while the State shot 5-16, 46.2 percent, on the game.
Leslie went 0-4 from the stripe line, usually a 64.4 percent free throw shooter.
State 19-8, 8-6 ACC, will take on Boston College 12-14, 4-9 ACC, Wednesday at PNC Arena.
