N.C. State beats BYU

By

Posted 6:34AM on Wednesday, December 22, 2004

PROVO, UTAH - As easy as things came in the first half, Julius Hodge knew it would get a lot tougher for North Carolina State in the second. ``Our intensity wasn't as good because we got the early lead but winners get wins,'' Hodge said after scoring 22 points as the 16th-ranked Wolfpack bounced back from their first loss of the season with a 72-61 victory over Brigham Young on Tuesday night. Hodge's focus was obvious in the final 2 minutes as the Cougars chose to foul him during their final comeback attempt. Hodge made four free throws in that span and even when he missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 53 seconds left he forced a jump ball on the rebound and the Wolfpack (9-1) retained possession. ``I'm not going to have teams fouling me at the end,'' Hodge said. BYU (2-8) drew within 66-57 with 2:11 to play. ``We showed great character today,'' Hodge said. ``I give our guys a lot of credit.'' North Carolina State coach Herb Sendek agreed. ``Our guys have had tremendous focus,'' he said. ``We might have bent a little bit but we didn't break.'' Tony Bethel had 15 points for the Wolfpack, who lost 68-64 at No. 12 Washington on Sunday. Mike Hall scored 18 points and Jared Jensen had 14 for the Cougars, who trailed by as many as 24 points before getting within nine. The Wolfpack missed their first eight 3-point attempts in the second half and BYU took advantage of the long rebounds for easy opportunities on the other end. Hall's fast-break basket closed the gap to 50-39 with 11:12 remaining. ``Those guys have no quit. BYU just really competes,'' Sendek said. Hall just wishes the fight had showed earlier. ``That's the hardest we have played. We competed but it started too late,'' he said. North Carolina State was the first Atlantic Coast Conference team to play BYU on its home court. The Cougars also had the misfortune of playing No. 4 North Carolina after its only loss of the season, falling 86-50 in the opening round of the Maui Invitational last month. The Wolfpack scored the first nine points of the game and by the time the Cougars made their second field goal, BYU had four turnovers. Hodge made his first five shots and pushed North Carolina State's lead to 17-5 6 minutes into the game. ``That was the best defensive team we'll play this year,'' BYU coach Steve Cleveland said. Hall's 3-pointer drew BYU within 26-16 but Andrew Brackman, who had 12 points, sparked a 14-0 run late in the first half and the Wolfpack led 40-18 at halftime. ``That was a pretty good first half, but we knew they were going to have an assault in the second,'' Sendek said.