Tourney kicks off with drama
Warren scores 25 to lead Wolfpack; Great Danes next face No. 1 Florida
Albany, N.C. State survive to play on,
It was only a matter of time. T.J. Warren, North Carolina State’s prolific scorer, battled early foul trouble and wasn’t shooting particularly well in Tuesday’s game against Xavier.
But it’s nearly impossible to contain Warren, the Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year, for 40 minutes. The 6-8 sophomore erupted in the second half for 10 points in 5 minutes, 14 seconds to give the Wolfpack some separation in a 74-59 victory against Xavier in the NCAA tournament’s First Four.
“In a 40-minute game, he is going to find a way,” North Carolina State coach Mark Gottfried said.
The Wolfpack (22-13) had won four of their previous five games to become the final at-large team to make the NCAA tournament.
“We have basically been in tournament mode for two or three weeks,” Gottfried said.
Warren, who had back-to-back 40-point games this season, gives N.C. State a potent scoring threat few teams possess. He finished with 25 points on 10-for-18 shooting.
No. 12 seed N.C. State could be well positioned to advance further in the tournament because it will next play No. 5 seed Saint Louis, the Atlantic 10 regular-season champion that has struggled late this season, losing four of five. The second-round Midwest Region game is Thursday in Orlando.
The Wolfpack have dramatically turned around their season after a 1-4 start in ACC play. The primary catalyst has been Warren. Entering Tuesday’s game, he had averaged 31.2 points over his previous five games.
But N.C. State is not quite a one-man show. Ralston Turner, a junior transfer from LSU, has played an integral role in the Wolfpack’s late-season success. And he continued to play well Tuesday, adding 17 points to finish as the only other N.C. State scorer in double figures.
Xavier center Matt Stainbrook had a large hand in the Musketeers (21-13) being competitive for stretches in the second half despite having played just nine minutes in Friday’s loss to Creighton in the Big East tournament because of a strained medial collateral ligament. He swatted the ball into the basket in the final minute of the half and finished the game with 19 points on 9-for-15 shooting.
N.C. State played in the NCAA tournament at University of Dayton Arena last season, but just two players on this season’s roster — Warren and Tyler Lewis — appeared in that game. Gottfried has made the NCAA tournament in each of his three seasons in Raleigh.
The first game Tuesday provided a stark contrast of styles. Mount St. Mary’s wanted to play fast. Albany wanted to be methodical. And the clash resulted in an appropriate opening act to the maddening three-week NCAA tournament.
Albany (19-14) won 71-64, surviving an entertaining game of extreme runs to earn the right to play Florida, the tournament’s top overall seed, in Orlando on Thursday. The Gators have not lost since Connecticut beat them on a buzzer-beater Dec. 2.
Mount St. Mary’s (16-17) had two chances to tie the score with its trademark shot — two of its 37 three-point attempts – in the game’s final minute, but both were errant. Rashad Whack’s contested three-point try with about 40 seconds to play was tantalizingly close to falling through the net.
It made for a dramatic ending to a game that looked over just a few minutes into action. Albany opened the game by unleashing a 21-2 run to seemingly seize control. But Mount St. Mary’s immediately responded with its own 21-2 run.
“We were the only game on national television,” Great Danes coach Will Brown joked after the game, “so we wanted to keep the viewers interested.”