WRAL Sports Fan

WRALSportsFan

Young Players Shine in Win over Fairleigh Dickinson

By Tim Peeler, GoPack.com

Jan 3, 2008

For one night at least, N.C. State coach Jim Valvano found his match in the interview room. And, more importantly, he may have found a few more components to use when the 1982-83 season hits its most brutal stretch, beginning this weekend.

Sophomore Terry Gannon and freshman Ernie Myers, a pair of backcourt reserves, came off the bench to provide instant offense for the Wolfpack in a 111-76 pummeling of Fairleigh Dickinson Monday night. Both posted career highs, with Gannon providing his 17 points from the outside and Myers scoring the bulk of his game-high 22 points with slashing moves from the high post.

Continuing the youthful surge, sophomore Lorenzo Charles also hit all five of his shots to score 10 points, his most significant contribution so far this season, as five Wolfpack players reached double figures in the team’s biggest scoring night in seven years.

That’s not to say the Wolfpack’s senior trio didn’t have much to do with the team’s second consecutive win. Dereck Whittenburg had 21 points and Thurl Bailey added 16, as both players topped the 1,000-point career scoring mark. And veteran point guard Sidney Lowe had a near flawless performance, dishing out 11 assists with only one turnover.

For the night, the Wolfpack (6-1) shot a sizzling 57.5 percent from the field and poured in 12 of its 18 3-point attempts, in the team’s fifth non-conference game using an experimental 3-point line and 35-second clock.

“I think North Carolina State shoots a lot better than Valvano did when he played at Rutgers,” said Fairleigh Dickinson coach J. Donald Feeley, a long-time friend of the Wolfpack coach. “I guess it was a mistake for us to agree to play the 3-pointer. They’ve been practicing. It seemed like all their baskets counted three points and ours counted two.”