March 16, 2007
Final Stats
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - There's still some magic left in Sidney Lowe's red jacket - and in North Carolina State's creaky Reynolds Coliseum.
Ben McCauley scored 19 points and the Wolfpack continued their exhausting, exhilarating postseason run with a 69-62 victory over Marist on Friday night in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament.
Dennis Horner and Gavin Grant added 13 points apiece for N.C. State (20-15), which played its sixth game in nine days and improved to 5-1 in that span.
The weary Wolfpack fed off a raucous sellout crowd in a rare game at Reynolds, their venerable former home where a generation ago Lowe played point guard on the Jim Valvano-led team that won the 1983 national title.
Now it's on to a quarterfinal rematch with West Virginia in Morgantown. The Mountaineers beat N.C. State 71-60 three months ago in Charleston, W.Va.
Engin Atsur had 12 points and Brandon Costner added 10 before fouling out with 1:43 left for N.C. State, which led by double figures for most of the way.
Marist pulled to 49-43 on Ryan Stilphen's layup with 5:31 to play, before the Wolfpack pulled away with an 11-4 run. The Red Foxes couldn't get closer than seven after that.
Will Whittington scored 18 points to lead Marist (25-9), the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular-season champion. The Red Foxes couldn't follow their win at Oklahoma State with a victory at another noisy environment.
N.C. State began its improbable postseason run in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, winning three games in three days - with Lowe wearing his stoplight-red jacket for each game - before losing to North Carolina in the title game. Two days later, they won at Drexel without Lowe's jacket.
This time, the Wolfpack took command midway through the first half, closing it with a 29-7 run and holding Marist to two field goals during the final 17 minutes. The Red Foxes missed 17 of their last 19 shots before halftime.
Jared Jordan had 11 points, and James Smith and Wilfred Benjamin added 10 apiece for Marist.
The Wolfpack, who typically play one "Heritage Game" per season at Reynolds Coliseum, returned to their one-time home because their regular arena, the RBC Center, was booked for a concert and the women's NCAA tournament.
They haven't lost at Reynolds since Princeton won in the second round of the NIT in 1999, the year before they moved to their new venue.
Lowe improved to 5-2 in the jacket, a tribute to his former coach who often broke out a similar bright jacket for important games.
Marist fell to a combined 1-4 in the NIT and the NCAA tournament, and is 0-6 against the ACC.
