The NC State men’s basketball team came away with its second win of the season Monday night against the Hofstra Pride by a score of 76-64. Redshirt senior Ralston Turner had a hot hand all evening to lead the Pack in scoring, racking up 24 points while shooting 5-for-9 from downtown.
Head coach Mark Gottfried said Monday’s win would mean much more in the future, as he expects Hofstra to make some noise in the Colonial Athletic Association.
“We beat a team tonight that’s going to win a lot of games,” Gottfried said. “They’re well-coached and they have veteran players that attacked some of our weaknesses. You never know for sure, but this could turn into a big win for us down the road.”
The Pack started the night on fire. In the first six minutes of the contest, State jumped out to a 19-5 lead while shooting over 50 percent from the field. Once again, sophomore guard Anthony ‘Cat’ Barber and redshirt junior guard Trevor Lacey led the way with combined 13 points in that span.
“We played very well early,” Gottfried said. “We had lots of energy.”
However, the Pride started to gain momentum midway through the opening half, as the State team began to rack up fouls. Hofstra was in the bonus with eight minutes to go in the first, and earned six of its 29 first-half points off of free throws.
Despite having its lead shrink to eight at one point, the Pack clawed back to secure a 16-point lead heading into the half.
A big part of State’s success was the sharp shooting of Turner. The Muscle Shoals, Alabama, native rattled off three shots from long range for a team-high 13 points at the break.
“They made a run, and [Turner] answered it,” Gottfried said. “That’s what you like to see from veteran guys. He had that look in his eyes. He stepped up and responded like a fifth-year senior should.”
The second half started with lots of argument from the Hofstra sideline, as Head Coach Joe Mihalich and junior guard Malik Nichols both earned technical fouls within the first three minutes of the half.
The Pride did not let the early calls affect its play, as the team came storming back to shorten its lead to single digits with 12:45 remaining.
Hofstra continued to make runs, but the Pack held steady to take the game. State’s starting backcourt—Turner, Lacey and Barber—combined for 55 points to lift the team above any late surge that Hofstra tried to put together. Lacey said Turner’s strong shooting was key for the team’s success.
“It helps when Ralston [Turner]’s making his shot,” Lacey said. “The defense didn’t play a traditional zone; they stretched it out which helped us get in the lane and make some plays.”
The backcourt was forced to step up, as sophomore forwards BeeJay Anya and Kyle Washington were sidelined for most of the second half with four fouls. Gottfried said that the lack of size in the interior made the pride’s zone defense more effective.
“Our big guys were in foul trouble so we didn’t really have a post presence against the zone,” Gottfried said. “We became a perimeter-oriented zone-attacking team, and that’s not what we want to do.”
The Pack will return to action on Thursday, when Jacksonville travels to the PNC Arena. Hofstra defeated Jacksonville by 33 in the Pride’s season opener.
