N.C. State beats Georgetown to reach Sweet 16
North Carolina State's C.J. Leslie celebrates the team's win over Georgetown in an an NCAA college basketball tournament third-round game. (March 18, 2012) Credit: AP
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- It is true that the deflated basketball is a Georgetown trademark. But the intended message is for its players to get an education -- "Don't let the sum total of your existence be 8-10 pounds of air."
Nobody at Georgetown thought of that flat orb as a symbol of yesterday's NCAA Midwest Regional game against North Carolina State. But there it was: the end of the season for third-seeded Georgetown, which lost, 66-63, to No. 11 seed N.C. State.
The guys in the dark shirts (always worn by the lower seed) keep winning in this year's downside-up, outside-in tournament. Red-clad N.C. State, almost an afterthought for inclusion in The Big Dance by the NCAA selection committee, will play on against second-seeded Kansas.
Georgetown's Jason Clark sent a last three-point attempt wide of the rim at the buzzer to assure N.C. State (24-12) of its first advance to the Sweet 16 in seven years. But Georgetown (24-9) had lost its grip on the proceedings much earlier.
After leading through the game's first 17 minutes, Georgetown never was ahead again, done in by its poor outside shooting -- 8-for-25 on three-pointers -- plus N.C. State's rebounding strength and balanced offensive attack.
"They had several guys who could score," said Georgetown's Hollis Thompson, who led all scorers with 23 points but hardly could offset N.C. State's group production: C.J. Williams, Scott Wood and C.J. Leslie scored 14 apiece, Lorenzo Brown added 12 and Richard Howell had nine points and nine rebounds.
"The way they defend," first-year N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried said of Georgetown, "I'm thinking to myself, 'Can we generate enough points?' They're very long and very athletic. But we always talk about our slogan to play through. Just play through" the difficult moments.
It helped N.C. State that 6-10 Henry Sims, Georgetown's versatile big man, took two early offensive fouls and sat for all but six minutes of the first half.
Both Sims and Georgetown coach John Thompson III insisted, as Sims said, that "my teammates can handle themselves without me." And they did, building their largest lead, at 25-15, with 5:13 left in the half.
But it also is a fact that, with Sims still on the bench, N.C. State then scored 12 straight points to go ahead 27-25. And Leslie's steal at midcourt and galloping slam dunk just before halftime made it 30-27 and emphasized the swing in momentum that never swung back.
N.C. State twice opened 11-point leads in the second half, as Wood (4-for-5 on three-pointers) and Williams found their outside range and Leslie did damage inside.
Brown's pull-up baseline jumper with 2:27 to go pumped the lead back to seven. N.C. State never needed another field goal, just seven free throws (in 11 attempts) to hold on.
"I told with three minutes left," Brown said, "that this is not his last game."
No deflated basketball for him.
