Anya glad you kept watching; State wins at buzzer

beejayanyaLSU missed its last 12 field goals and last six free throws as NC State came from 16 down to win at the buzzer on a left-handed hook by Beejay Anya. The 66-65 Wolfpack win advances them to the round of 32 against Villanova Saturday.

The Pack had several opportunities to tie or take the lead in the last minute and a half after missed free throws but missed four three-point shots. LSU led 65-62 with a minute to play but Anya tipped in a Ralston Turner missed three to draw State to within a point at 65-64.

Trevor Lacey came down with a rebound on the other end, keeping the dribble going as he was falling down and the Pack called timeout with 14 seconds left.

It appeared that Lacey was going to take the last shot but he was heavily covered and hastily got it to Anya in the lane with four seconds left. Anya went to his right but found no opening so he reversed to the left, hooking up a shot from about six feet out. The ball bounced around and fell through for the victory. Those four points were the only ones Anya scored all night.

The Pack led 20-19 and never led again until the Anya shot. The Pack trailed by 16 at the half.

“We wanted to stay positive,” State coach Mark Gottfried said. “We got after them at the half but these guys can handle it.” He said that in the second half, the defense stopped LSU from getting easy second-chance dunks that they got in the first half.

“But the big thing was that we stayed positive and kept fighting til the end.”

Lacey agreed. “We was staying positive,” he said. “We knew our shots was gonna fall. We came out and we was excited. We wasn’t executing as well as we know we could.”

He said that in the second half the players calmed down. “It started on the defensive end,” he said. “Once we got stops, we got out on the transition and got some easy baskets.”

Cat Barber led the Pack with 17 points but they got good play off the bench by Kyle Washington who scored nine points on a four of five performance in just 12 minutes of play.

Box score

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