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College Basketball

N.C. State to Host NIT Game After Downing Drexel

By DAN GELSTON (AP Sports Writer)

Mar 14, 2007

PHILADELPHIA — Engin Atsur and Ben McCauley each scored 16 points to lead weary North Carolina State to a 63-56 win over Drexel on Tuesday night in the first round of the NIT.

Brandon Costner's three-point play late in the game sealed the win for the Wolfpack (19-15), who advanced to play Marist University at 9:30 p.m. Friday at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh. Marist upset Oklahoma State 67-64 Tuesday night.

Tickets go on sale for Wolfpack Club members at 2 p.m. Wednesday. The general public can begin buying tickets at noon Thursday.

The 10th-seeded Wolfpack knocked off three higher seeds in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament before losing to North Carolina in the championship game. Four exhilarating games in four days and their reward was a plane trip to Philadelphia.

Coach Sidney Lowe left his lucky red blazer behind, but the Wolfpack didn't need it in this one - not with the Dragons (23-9) miserable shooting from the foul line down the stretch.

Frank Elegar scored 24 points on 10-for-12 shooting but was overshadowed by a string of crucial misses from the line in the second half. Elegar missed eight of 12 overall, including two that could have put the Dragons ahead with 2:30 left.

Instead, McCauley sank a free throw that made it 54-54 and Costner followed with his baseline layup and the free throw, and the Wolfpack's late-season surge continued for another game.

Dominick Mejia added 11 points for the Dragons, who came in still angered over beig snubbed by the NCAA tournament selection committee.

The Dragons were left out of the NCAAs even though they had 13 road wins and the most overall victories in coach Bruiser Flint's six seasons. While the Dragons did what they needed to do on the road and in nonconference games, they failed to take care of business against the best of the Colonial Athletic Association, which ultimately cost them a spot in the NCAA field.

Drexel was only 1-5 against the top three teams in the conference and lost in the tourney semifinals. The Dragons also lost both games against Old Dominion, which received the one CAA at-large bid.

The students in the "DAC Pack" were fired up and brought all sorts of signs that took shots at the NCAA snub. The Dragons fed off the frenzied atmosphere for awhile, and raced to an early 11-point lead.

But Atsur's driving layup early in the second half tied the score for the first time and McCauley's layup gave the Wolfpack their first lead, 36-35.

When Courtney Fells sank a 3 to push the lead to 41-35 early in the half, he capped a 12-1 run that had the Wolfpack feeling like they were back in Tampa, Florida

The Dragons weren't finished. Mejia hit a 3 and Bashir Mason scored off a turnover to help Drexel regain the lead, 42-41.

The Dragons were a woeful 7-for-16 from the line while NC State was 12 of 20.

While the students were certainly upset over being left out of the NCAAs, it sure didn't douse their enthusiasm inside the cozy and steamy 2,700-seat Daskalakis Athletic Center. The DAC was rocking from the moment the fans were let in.

Mejia pump-faked at the 3-point line, and went underneath the basket for a reverse layup that made it 10-1 and the earsplitting cheers did little to soothe the Wolfpack going into a timeout.

Chaz Crawford swiped the ball at midcourt and finished with a layup for a 15-4 lead. But after making seven of their first nine shots, Drexel cooled and missed 15 of 20. The Wolfpack snapped out of their early funk and Fells hit a pair of 3s to help them pull to 28-26 at halftime.