The Daily Southerner, Tarboro, NC

Sports

March 8, 2010

Horner leads NC State past Boston College

The Associated Press Associated Press

RALEIGH (AP) — Dennis Horner picked himself up off the floor with blood running from a cut above his right eye, then headed to the locker room for possibly the last time in the RBC Center.

Instead, the senior returned to ensure his final regular-season game at North Carolina State ended with a win.

Horner scored 11 of his 14 points during the decisive second-half run to help the Wolfpack rally past Boston College 66-54 on Sunday, sending N.C. State into the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament with some momentum after a strong finish.

Tracy Smith scored 19 points to lead the Wolfpack (17-14, 5-11 ACC), who closed the regular season with three wins in four games but goes into the tournament as the No. 11 seed. N.C. State used a 19-5 run to rally from a 47-43 deficit in the final 7 minutes, a spurt that began once Horner returned to the game following a scary spill.

"They put some super glue on it and said, 'Get back out there,'" Horner said. "That's what I wanted to do."

Horner, a 6-foot-9 senior, seemed in position for a dunk when Boston College big man Josh Southern rotated over and delivered a hard foul that knocked Horner to the floor with a loud thud with 18:13 left. His head hit the court, opening the cut that left blood trickling around the back of his head as he headed to the locker room.

But a few stitches later, Horner emerged from the tunnel with about 14 minutes left and sat down on the bench. He re-entered the game with 10:55 to play.

"I heard it," N.C. State coach Sidney Lowe said of the impact. "I walked out there and I saw the blood coming down. I was concerned about it. I didn't know if he was coming back or not, and the next thing I knew he was sitting right there on the bench."

Horner started the run a few minutes later when he drove inside for a basket and a foul for a three-point play that cut the deficit to one. He put the Wolfpack ahead for good with a pair of free throws with 4:58 left, then knocked down a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession for a 54-50 lead that sent the home crowd into a roar.

"He hit a lot of clutch shots and did a lot of good things for them," BC's Evan Ravenel said. "Not only just scoring points, but setting good screens. He did all the little things. He really hurt us."

He capped the run by knocking down another 3 that made it 62-52 with 2:12 to play, then ran back on defense with a wide grin on his face.

"We were just passing, cutting through, people were getting open," Horner said. "I wasn't thinking about these shots. I was just coming off and letting it go, and they were going in."

Smith went 7-for-12 inside to help the Wolfpack shoot 50 percent, while C.J. Williams added 14 points off the bench — including a thunderous dunk over Southern that tied the game with 5? minutes left.

"I came into the game feeling like I needed to be aggressive," Williams said. "We came out a little dead in the beginning, and I just wanted to come out and help my team win. I jut picked it up defensively, and eventually the offense came. I was able to score the basketball."

It was the second straight year N.C. State's seniors played their final home game against Boston College, with the Wolfpack holding on for a 74-69 win last year.

Boston College got off to a fast start, scoring the game's first six points while the Wolfpack looked so sluggish early that Lowe promptly yanked Horner and fellow senior Farnold Degand from the game. But the Eagles didn't build on their lead and traded baskets with the Wolfpack until N.C. State took control.

"The last six minutes, we did a terrible job defensively," Eagles coach Al Skinner said. "We were really out of sync. We attempted to gamble on plays and got out of position. I really think that our defense the last six minutes was the worst we've played all year."

Rakim Sanders and Tyler Roche each scored 11 points to lead BC, but the Eagles played the second half without starter Corey Raji after he injured his left shoulder.

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