Feb. 25, 2004
By KEITH PARSONS
AP Sports Writer
ATLANTA – Starting the game on the bench was a relatively new experience for Julius Hodge. So was his performance against Georgia Tech.
Hodge scored 22 points in a rare reserve appearance and No. 14 North Carolina State got another big victory on the road, beating the 18th-ranked Yellow Jackets 79-69 Wednesday night.
For only the second time this season, Hodge didn’t start as coach Herb Sendek chose to go with the five players who essentially closed out a come-from-behind victory over Washington on Sunday.
“We’ve maintained all year that with this particular team, there is not really five starters,” Sendek said. “We’ve changed our starting lineup as much as some people change underwear. This team just has a different personality.”
Whatever the reason, Sendek’s ploy worked. Hodge had reached double figures only once in six previous games against Georgia Tech, a 10-point effort last March in the conference tournament. He shot 3-of-10 in that one and was only 4-for-32 (13 percent) in the other five.
Hodge finished 7-for-11 Wednesday night, including 2-of-4 on 3-pointers.
“Coach said in the locker room that he wanted to start the guys that finished hard against Washington, and I guess I wasn’t one of those guys,” Hodge said. “I wasn’t happy with it.”
The Wolfpack (18-6, 10-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) are 4-3 away from home in the conference, joining league-leader Duke as the only teams with winning road records. Scooter Sherrill added 17 points, Engin Atsur had 16 and Ilian Evtimov scored 15 for the Wolfpack.
N.C. State won for the eighth time in 10 games and continued its impressive free throw shooting. The leader in Division I at 79 percent coming in, the Wolfpack went 27-of-34 (79 percent), including 10-of-14 down the stretch.
“As simplistic as it may sound, we’ve just kind of stayed the course with it and realized that we have to get better at every step,” Sendek said. “We’ve not altered that.”
The Yellow Jackets (19-8, 6-7) are struggling. After a 12-0 start – the best in school history – they are only 7-8 and dropped below .500 in the ACC for the first time since a loss to North Carolina in their first conference game of the season.
B.J. Elder scores two of his team-high tying 16 points during the first half.
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B.J. Elder and Luke Schenscher each had 16 points for Georgia Tech, and Jarrett Jack and Marvin Lewis both added 10.
“We came into this game 6-6, and you look around our league, and there are a lot of teams hovering around that mark,” Yellow Jackets coach Paul Hewitt said. “I don’t think a 6-7 mark in this league is anything to be ashamed of. Am I disappointed? Sure, but I’m not ashamed of it.”
Hodge sat out the first 4:15 and quickly had an impact when he came in. On his first offensive possession, he made a 3-pointer to give the Wolfpack their first lead at 10-8, then quickly stole the ball on the other end.
“I was a little frustrated about not starting,” Hodge said. “At the start of the game, I wanted to be out there. But when I got out there, I just did the best I could in the situation.”
He also agitated two of the players trying to defend him, drawing a foul from Isma’il Muhammad and then exchanging elbows with Clarence Moore during a stoppage.
“He’s definitely one of those players who likes to talk a lot,” Jack said. “But I don’t think that bothered us. We’ve played against him enough to know that’s how he is.”
In the second half, Hodge blocked a shot by Elder, then gave N.C. State the lead at 57-56 with two free throws. A layup by Atsur – off a nifty feed by Hodge – boosted the lead to three.
The Yellow Jackets rallied to go up one last time at 60-59 on a three-point play by Jack, but Evtimov put the Wolfpack ahead for good with a hook.
Consecutive 3-pointers by Hodge and Atsur made it 69-62, and Georgia Tech was forced to foul and hoist 3s, a strategy that didn’t work.
“We hit some good shots in the end and we got some great stops,” Evtimov said. “The game seemed like it was tied the whole way through. In the end, it just came down to us making consecutive stops and scoring consecutive times.”
