Staff photo by Ethan Hyman
RALEIGH — It looked like trouble for N.C. State when point guard Javi Gonzalez went to the bench with his second foul early in the first half Saturday night.
Starting point guard Farnold Degand already was out with a knee injury, so it was up to freshman Julius Mays to run the team in a close game.
Although Mays won't be compared to former N.C. State great Chris Corchiani, he kept the team steady for the rest of the first half as the Wolfpack built a seven-point halftime lead en route to a 69-56 defeat of High Point at Reynolds Coliseum.
Mays handed out three assists and didn't turn it over in 14 first-half minutes. Left open in front of the High Point bench for his only field goal attempt of the first half, Mays sank a 3-pointer for the first points of his college career.
Gonzalez, who'd scored just one point in the opener at New Orleans, seemed to get a boost from his teammate's success. Coach Sidney Lowe has been encouraging Gonzalez to shoot more because he's unselfish almost to a fault, and Gonzalez took that advice early in the second half.
After a 3-pointer by High Point's Nick Barbour cut the deficit to four points early in the second half, Gonzalez fired in a three of his own from the top of the key. Sixty-two seconds later, he made another 3-pointer from the same spot.
Senior forward Courtney Fells also played well, scoring 23 points as N.C. State improved to 2-0 entering Tuesday night's game against another Big South opponent, Winthrop, that could be more formidable.
Degand is expected to miss that game, as well. But while the progress of N.C. State's other point guards Saturday was encouraging, there was one nagging concern.
Duquesne, which hardly is a national power, crushed High Point 84-55.
N.C. State led the Panthers (1-2) by just six points with 10:10 remaining, and Winthrop made 11 3-pointers. The Wolfpack might have to get off to a better start Tuesday to improve to 3-0.
