The loud chants of "WHO IS CENTRAL?!?" by the Wolfpack faithful were hushed Sunday afternoon, when the Eagles (5-5) ventured to the historic Reynolds Coliseum and rallied from 15 points midway through the second half.
Early on the N.C. State Wolfpack (6-3) looked poised to blowout the Eagles. However, the Eagles' stifling zone defense brought them back in the game, while forcing key turnovers and holding the Wolfpack's offense to 26 percent shooting in the second half. From there, any talks of an easy win were immediately put to rest.
Two key buckets by junior Ray Willis cut the lead to three points 59-56 with 1:45 remaining in the game but a key offensive rebound and clutch free-throws from Wolfpack junior Scott Wood sealed the deal, proving the Wolfpack to be the better team. When the buzzer sounded the score was 65-60
"I think they did a really good job of getting in the passing lane and causing some havoc for us," Wood said.
Wood finished 5-9 from the field, with 19 points, all of which were 3-point shots, and appeared wided open almost every shot.
In the first half, the Eagles couldn't seem to buy a layup. In the second half it looked as if they forgot how to box out. An offensive rebound in the last minute extended the shot clock, forcing the Eagles to foul and ultimately serving the Eagles' their fifth loss. The Wolfpack out-rebounded the Eagles 34-22 on the day, 12 of which were offensive rebounds and finished with 15 second-chance points.
"I went in at halftime and told everybody to raise your hand if you missed a layup, and a couple of guys raised their hands," said Moton. "I said ‘how many did you miss' and once we tallied it up it was 14 points worth of layups."
"My point was we pretty much had self-inflicted wounds instead of them actually beating us."
The Wolfpack's leading scorer sophomore forward C.J. Leslie (14.8 ppg) was expected to be the star of the game, but it was the other C.J. who took on the scoring load in Sunday's matchup. C.J. Williams scored a career high of 21 points in his 100thcareer game. He gave high praises to the Eagles' for their near victory
"They were really long and active," said Williams. "A zone like that is hard to break."
"We knew that they were good, because they got a lot of transfer guys. They are going to be a really good team," Williams said.
The Eagles' were also without their sharp shooter and third leading scorer, senior guard Landon Clement (15.9 ppg) due to a foot injury. The timetable for his return is uncertain.
"It obviously helped that Landon wasn't out there," said Wood.
Four of the five players that scored were in double figures for the Eagles. Junior Ray Willis was the leading scorer with 17 points on 7-17 shooting, while senior Dominique Sutton finished with 15 points and 6 rebounds.
"Our complete team hasn't played together yet. In basketball you have to develop a rhythm and with rhythm comes chemistry," said Moton. "It's still us learning how to play together."
Moton however remains optimistic about the Eagles' future.
"Towards the end of December you start to really see it start to come together."
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