Jan 19, 2002
By AARON BEARD
Associated Press Writer
RALEIGH, N.C. – Anthony Grundy had 23 points, seven rebounds and five assists as North Carolina State rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit to beat Georgia Tech 84-71 Saturday.
The Wolfpack (14-4, 4-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) have won four of their last five to surpass last year’s win total heading into Wednesday’s meeting with rival North Carolina.
Georgia Tech (7-11, 0-5) has lost four in a row and nine of the last 10 against the Wolfpack.
The Yellow Jackets led 55-46 on a four-point play from guard Tony Akins with 14:01 to play, but the Wolfpack hit four consecutive shots – including 3-pointers from Grundy, Archie Miller and Illian Evitmov – to spark an 11-2 run and tie the game at 57.
The Wolfpack took the lead by hitting four consecutive free throws and adding a three-point play from Marcus Melvin to go up 64-59. Georgia Tech would not get closer than three points the rest of the way.
The Wolfpack shot 56 percent in the second half.
The Yellow Jackets shot well from 3-point range for the first 30 minutes, but could not find their shooting touch as the Wolfpack took control of the game. Georgia Tech shot 33.3 percent in the half.
Akins led the Yellow Jackets with 17 points. Clarence Moore and Ed Nelson each added 14.
Georgia Tech shot 46.7 percent in the first half and hit 7 of 13 3-pointers. Moore hit two of those in the final 38 seconds – including a running 30-footer just before halftime – as the Yellow Jackets led 41-34 at the break.
The Wolfpack shot 37.5 percent and 3-for-13 from 3-point range, falling behind by as many as 11 midway through the period.
Trailing 30-23 with 5:20 left in the half, N.C. State went on an 11-2 run – keyed by driving buckets from Grundy and Clifford Crawford – to take a 34-32 edge. The Wolfpack also got a turnaround shot in the lane from Melvin and hit 5-of-6 free throws during the run.
The Yellow Jackets answered with nine unanswered points – all from Moore – in the final 1:37 of the half.
