Story Links
Feb. 7, 2004
Box Score?|?Quotes |? Video Highlights and Postgame Comments
By HANK KURZ Jr.
AP Sports Writer
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Julius Hodge scored 16 of his 26 points in thefirst half and North Carolina State knocked reeling Virginia into the AtlanticCoast Conference cellar with a 79-63 victory Saturday.
The Wolfpack (14-5, 7-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) led 34-23 at halftime andby as many as 19 after Virginia went nine minutes between field goals spanningthe halves as a 22-all tie became a 39-23 deficit.
The Cavaliers (12-8, 2-7) lost their fourth in a row and for the seventhtime in eight meetings with North Carolina State. Virginia fell behind Clemson,which plays at No. 1 Duke on Sunday, in the ACC.
Hodge outscored Virginia by himself, 11-9, in the first nine minutes, butthe Cavaliers used a 12-4 run to take a 20-19 lead with 7:48 to play.
It was 22-all with 6:47 left when the Cavaliers went cold, missing theirlast seven shots and trailing 34-22 at the break. Three more misses to startthe second half allowed N.C. State to open a 39-23 lead, and only a stretch offour turnovers in five possessions kept it respectable.
Marcus Melvin added 16 points, Iliam Evtimov 12 and Engin Atsur 11 for theWolfpack. Atsur’s points all came in the second half, including three3-pointers in a span of three minutes as the Wolfpack built a 63-44 lead.
Devin Smith led Virginia with 14 points and Gary Forbes and J.R. Reynoldshad 10 each. Virginia shot just over 41 to the Wolfpack’s 51 percent and theCavaliers were also beaten badly on the glass, 39-22.
Virginia coach Pete Gillen shook up his starting lineup for the sixthstraight game, inserting point guard Majestic Mapp. It was Mapp’s first startsince Nov. 27, 1999 when he was a freshman, four knee surgeries ago.