Costner, McCauley lead Pack over Pirates

RALEIGH — All season long, Brandon Costner and Ben McCauley have been fiercely determined to show that this season would be better for them and for N.C. State.

With a brilliant performance to start the game and the second half Tuesday night, Costner, McCauley and N.C. State proved something about themselves and their team.

Costner scored 24 points and grabbed 17 rebounds as the Wolfpack avenged last season’s loss to East Carolina with a 87-76 defeat at the RBC Center. Twelve of McCauley’s 20 points came after halftime as N.C. State overcame a 25-point, six-assist night by Pirates sophomore point guard Brock Young.

Costner scored 13 points in the first 6 ½ minutes as hot-shooting N.C. State (6-1) made its first six field goal attempts en route to an eight-point lead.

East Carolina (8-2) struck back thanks to 11 first-half points from Sam Hinnant and six first-half assists from Young. But after a spinning Young basket with three seconds remaining in the first half tied the score at 42-42, N.C. State point guard Javi Gonzalez made what might have been the biggest basket of the game.

Gonzalez took the inbounds pass, dribbled straight upcourt and launched a 50-foot shot that caromed off the backboard and into the basket for a 45-42 Wolfpack halftime lead. After the teams went back to the locker room, the referees huddled for a few minutes at the scorers’ table before ruling that the shot left Gonzalez’s hands before the buzzer.

Buoyed by that shot, Costner scored five points and made a steal in the opening 80 seconds of the second half. McCauley, a senior center, added a hook shot, a three-point play on the block and another basket in the lane as N.C. State extended its lead to 60-44.

But just when the Wolfpack appeared ready to run away with it, Raleigh Broughton High graduate Young took control on a breathtaking night in his hometown. Spinning into the lane against Farnold Degand and Gonzalez, Young scored 15 of East Carolina’s points in a row.

East Carolina drew within 78-74 on a Hinnant layup with 3:19 remaining, but N.C. State made nine of 10 free throws in the last 2:42 to seal the win.

N.C. State, which had lost for the first time ever in the series last season in Greenville, improved to 18-1 all-time against the Pirates.

Staff photo by Ethan Hyman