Eagles Upset Wolfpack 82-72 in OT

NC Central 82 – NC State 72 — Box Score

Gottfried Postgame Audio:

Foul trouble, an off shooting night and poor defense made for the perfect storm in the PNC Arena on Wednesday night as the NC Central Eagles upset NC State 82-72 in OT.

It was just one of those nights for the Wolfpack. You can blame it on the refs all you want but this was a game that shouldn’t have happened. The Eagles used a zone to slow down the Pack and really take them out of their rhythm. That coupled with an off shooting night really hindered State’s offense.

Then there were the fouls. Central was constantly spreading the floor and attacking, and the refs were quick with the whistle in this one, but Gottfried needs to get his guys moving their feet more. Everyone just seemed a little sluggish in this one except for Cat Barber.

Lee, Turner, Freeman and Warren all fouled out and Lewis and Anya were playing scared at the end with 4 fouls each, so that left it up to the freshman Barber who really answered the bell in the 2nd half. He really showcased his quickness and his ability to finish at the rim, notching 22 points in his highest scoring game of his young career.

The real story however, was NC Central. The small Durham school has some real talent. Jeremy Ingram went for 29 and Emanual Chapman pitched in with 18 for the Eagles. Both guards really took it to NC State. This is a veteran team that beat Campbell pretty bad and nearly knocked off Cincy. They have talented smart guards that can score it, but that doesn’t mean an ACC school like NC State should fall to them.

The truth is, State is young. They are inexperienced and they aren’t very deep. They once again were outrebounded (37-30) and they only shot 15% from 3. Those were big factors. To State’s credit, they did compete till the end and they did force overtime thanks to a Patrick Wallace 3 with time running out, but with all their big guns fouled out, they didn’t have enough in the extra time.

State will take on Florida Gulf Coast on Tuesday at 7pm at the PNC arena.