WRAL Sports Fan

WRALSportsFan

Myers' 35 Points Levels Duke, Halts Skid

By Tim Peeler

Jan 26, 2008

Editor’s note: At the time, it was not reported that Myers’ 35-point performance was an ACC single-game scoring record for a freshman, but it still stands in the ACC record book 25 years later. That may not be as long as Wake Forest star Dickie Hemric’s 36 rebounds against Clemson on Feb. 4, 1955, but it is still one of the longest standing single-game records in ACC history.

RALEIGH, N.C. – In a desperate situation, three heads are better than one. So NC State, losers in five of its last six games, turned to the scoring of freshman Ernie Myers, the floor leadership of senior Sidney Lowe, and the interior defense of senior Thurl Bailey, to overcome Duke, 94-79, Wednesday night at Reynolds Coliseum.

The victory snapped the Wolfpack’s three-game losing streak.

“Thank God,” said NC State coach Jim Valvano, who has had very little to celebrate since senior guard Dereck Whittenburg was lost for the season with a broken foot on Jan. 16. “We needed this one.”

Myers, Whittenburg’s replacement in the starting lineup, had the most productive scoring night of his young career. The Parade All-America from New York broke the NC State freshman scoring record by netting 35 points on 14 of 19 shooting, including a pair of 3-pointers.

“Ernie had a spectacular game,” Valvano said. “Like I have said before, he’s a scorer, not a shooter. You just don’t realize how many points he’s getting. I had no idea he had 35. When a guy swishes them in from the outside, you sit back and say ‘Wow’ and you know he’s getting a bundle. Ernie just had a super game.”