Wake Forest University
NC State
Demon Deacons Drop N.C. State, 73-58
2/6/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb 6, 2003
By DAVID DROSCHAK
AP Sports Writer
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Josh Howard flirted with leaving school early for the NBA, the same way five other Atlantic Coast Conference players did a season ago. A leg injury changed his mind.
It's funny how things work out sometimes.
Howard, coming off a career-best 32 points over the weekend, scored 20 of his 24 in the second half as No. 14 Wake Forest beat North Carolina State 73-58 Thursday night.
"No telling where I would be if I went last year," said Howard, who is having an All-American type of season. "All things happen for a reason. I took everything in focus when I stayed and I have a chance to graduate in May - then I'll have a chance to make it to the next level."
Howard has certainly taken his game to the next level.
He's averaging 23 points in eight ACC games as the Demon Deacons (16-2, 6-2) secured their best start in the ACC since going 7-1 in 1997.
The Wolfpack (12-6, 5-3) dropped into a third-place tie in the ACC with Duke at the halfway point. The Wolfpack led by four at halftime, but missed its next nine 3-pointers and finished 6-for-26 from beyond the arc.
 Jamaal Levy dunks over North Carolina State's Josh Powell during the first half.  | |
Howard was 8-for-13 from the field, 7-of-7 from the foul line and added 12 rebounds as Wake Forest improved to 12-0 at home.
"When the game hung in the balance he went to another level and just made some really nice plays," N.C. State coach Herb Sendek said of Howard.
"He's been our bell cow," Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser added about his star. "He has tremendous passion and he has an abhorrence of losing and that's had a ripple affect on our team. He doesn't like to talk about it much, but he raises the level of our play with his actions."
Howard was helped on the scoring side by Eric Williams, a freshman who has had trouble staying on the floor the last six games, and point guard Taron Downey.
Williams, who committed 25 fouls in his last six games, had 16 points on 7-for-10 shooting, while Downey added 12 and was key, along with Howard, during Wake Forest's late surge to victory.
The score was tied at 49 with 9? minutes left before Downey hit a bank shot and made two free throws to begin a 15-2 run. Howard helped close the spurt with a baseline jumper, a follow shot and two free throws for a 13-point cushion.
He added an exclamation mark to the win with a driving slam with 1:19 left as the Demon Deacons shot 61 percent in the second half.
 | No telling where I would be if I went [to the NBA] last year. All things happen for a reason. Josh Howard |
"Josh always finds a way to help out the team," Williams said. "He always finds a way to get us a win. His leadership is amazing. He leads by his emotion, we can see it in his face that he's serious and he's not going to back down."
Clifford Crawford led the Wolfpack with 19 points, while ACC scoring leader Julius Hodge was limited to 13 points - six below his average - on 3-for-13 shooting.
"Credit Wake Forest for their defensive effort," said Sendek, whose club faced more zone in the second half and shot 35 percent in the final 20 minutes. "We had some opportunities, but we didn't convert. To battle a quality team like Wake Forest on the road we don't have that margin of error right now."
Wake Forest, which averages 81.4 points, had a difficult time against N.C. State's 2-3 zone defense in the first half.
While Williams was able to get involved inside, Howard wasn't getting the ball and the Demon Deacons committed nine turnovers trying to force it into the paint.
And early foul trouble by Josh Powell proved to be a blessing for the Wolfpack, which got 11 points in the opening 20 minutes from Levi Watkins off the bench.
Watkins hit a pair of 3-pointers 45 seconds apart less than three minutes after entering the game and added another one late in the half as N.C. State grabbed a 35-31 lead at the break. Watkins didn't score in the second half.
