Tech tops ‘Pack, falls to UNC

When the Jackets took a 20-point lead Wednesday night in Chapel Hill, things seemed too easy, as if something had to give. Enter Tyler Hansbrough. The freshman phenom from Poplar Bluff, Mo. scored 40 points and pulled in ten rebounds in a game that saw the Jackets blow a 13-point halftime lead.

The fact that Tech had more fouls in this game than in any other this season meant it was tough to keep proper pressure on the Tar Heels, who won the game 82-75.

Another important stat of the game is this: 9-10 and 0-9. That’s Tech’s three-point shooting each half. The Jackets netted their first nine three-point shots to start the game, before Morrow missed one at the end of the first half. It seemed as if the missed shot was a bad omen, as Morrow went zero for four in the second half, and the resst of the team went just 3-11.

Hansbrough’s 40 points is not only a UNC freshman record, it is also the single-game record for the Dean Smith Center.

Morrow led the Jackets with 22 points for the game, but just four of his points came in the second half. Frederick had 15 points off the bench and Ra’Sean Dickey scored 13 points.

UNC did not get any help behind the line as they hit just three of 15, but they abandoned the three long before they realized it would not help. The Jackets got into dangerous foul trouble early as they tried to pressure North Carolina.Just six minutes into the first half, UNC was already in the bonus as Tech racked up six fouls quickly. Tech ended the first half with 16 fouls, the same amount as UNC had the entire game. The referees didn’t allow the Jackets to get away with anything. It was six minutes into the second half as well when the Jackets had already committed six fouls.

The Heels converted just 23 of their possible 35 free throws though. But the opportunity to stay in a game that they were out of very quickly shows the resilience of their team.

Tech’s 20 turnovers certainly plagued the team. More than anything that led to the Jackets loss was the amount of unforced errors that could have been avoided.

North Carolina’s young team outshined Tech’s young team at the Dean Smith Center, where Tech hasn’t won since 1996.

N.C. State

Alexander Memorial Coliseum finally saw its 500th win as the Yellow Jackets showed they could play with the best of the ACC, taking out former No. 16 N.C. State 71-68. Tech also ended their first eight-game losing-streak in 25 years with the win. This game marked the second in a row where Hewitt shuffled his starting line-up. He started junior Mario West at point guard along with sophomore Lewis Clinch, and senior Theodis Tarver in forward positions. Both teams played well against hard defenses and managed very similar numbers. Both teams had 26 rebounds and the Wolfpack had just one more assist (20) than Tech.

The difference between this game and all the others, though, was the amount of turnovers. Tech had 27 turnovers against Florida State last week and lost by just one point. On Saturday, though, the Jackets gave the ball up just 15 times. N.C. State had just seven points off those turnovers, while Tech took advantage with 14 points off 19 turnovers.

Sophomore guard Frederick, coming off the bench for the second straight game, led the Jackets in scoring.

“[There was] a great effort by our guys, in particular Zam Frederick. He started out the game taking some great shots, and you could see his confidence just get rolling,” Hewitt said. Frederick scored a career-high 22 points, including three out four behind the arc. He made nine out of his 12 shots.

Tech took their largest lead of the night halfway into the first period when Frederick hit a jumper to give the Jackets an eight-point lead. The Wolfpack stormed back to tie the game at 25 with two straight three-pointers. Tech took the lead again with a three by sophomore Morrow, one of his three three-point baskets on the day. Tech finished the half with a six-point lead when freshman D’Andre Bell assisted Morrow on his second three.

Three minutes into the second half, West had one of the more memorable moments when he drove to the basket and dunked hard before dramatically falling to the floor. That dunk gave Tech a four-point lead.

The lead didn’t last long, however. Two minutes after West’s dunk, N.C. State’s Tony Bethel hit a three-point shot to give the Wolfpack their first lead of the second half. Fortunately for the Jackets, that would be the Wolfpack’s last lead of the game.

On the other end of the court, Clinch assisted Morrow on another Jacket three. On the very next play, Engin Atsur lost the ball to Morrow, who then turned around and assisted Clinch on a lay-up.

The teams traded baskets all the way down to the wire until with 15 seconds left Morrow missed a shot with no time on the shot clock buzzer to give the ball back to N.C. State. The Wolfpack drove the ball down the court, but Bennerman missed a three with five seconds left, and the clock expired before N.C. State could attempt another game-tying shot.

“They [N.C. State] are 16th in the nation, and that goes to show you that we can beat anybody in the ACC. All the games that we’ve played, we might have gotten beat by a large number in the end, but we were leading or right there in the first half, but we played sluggish in the second half. So this game we pushed ourselves to play hard the first five minutes of the second half and get over the hump,” Clinch said. The win is just the third conference win for the Jackets.

Earlier in the week, the Jackets traveled to Tallahassee to take on the Florida State Seminoles in ACC play. The story of the game though was 91 seconds. The final 91 seconds of the game, in which neither side could score a single basket.

The Seminoles had just one lead in the second half, and it came with 91 seconds left after Andrew Wilson hit a three to cap off the Seminoles scoring charge. Tech managed to score just nine points to Florida State’s 24 in the final nine minutes of the game.