Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 15, 1991 TAG: 9103150162
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN SMALLWOOD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: COLLEGE PARK, MD. LENGTH: Medium
North Carolina State's combination of "Fire" and "Ice" - Chris Corchiani and Rodney Monroe - found the flow. Tom Gugliotta and Bryant Feggins teamed to erase the inside presence of Southern Mississippi big man Clarence Weatherspoon.
The Wolfpack outscored the Golden Eagles by 21 points and turned a close game into a record-setting 114-85 blowout over Southern Miss in an NCAA East Regional first-round game Thursday at Cole Field House.
N.C. State (20-10), which set a record for the most points in an East Regional game, will play Oklahoma State (23-7), a 67-54 winner over New Mexico, on Saturday for a chance to advance to the Sweet 16.
"We had a great performance today," said N.C. State first-year coach Les Robinson. "We put it all together against a very good opponent. We couldn't play any better than that."
Corchiani and Monroe each scored 25 points, and sixth-man Migjen Bakalli tied an NCAA Tournament record by going 6-for-6 on 3-point attempts.
Gugliotta scored 16, Feggins 15 and center Kevin Thompson added 11 points and 13 rebounds as N.C. State's iron-man sextet was too much for the Metro Conference regular-season champion.
"Today was another tough day for us," said Southern Mississippi coach M.K. Turk. "The fact is, we were a good basketball team through our first 22 to 25 games. I'm really disappointed in our team, especially the way they've played in the last seven games. You really have to have it all together when you play a team like N.C. State, and we just didn't."
With 14:21 remaining in the game, Southern Miss (21-8) was down 60-54. Then Thompson put in a Monroe miss.
Monroe, who was 8-for-22 from the floor, ended a run of 10 consecutive misses by lofting in a 12-footer. A 3-pointer by Corchiani followed.
Darrin Chancellor, who led Southern Miss with 24 points, put in an 18-footer for the Eagles, but the Wolfpack went on an 18-2 run to lead 85-58 with 8:04 left.
"I know it's an old cliche, but the score didn't indicate how close that game really was," said Robinson. "It was a 4-6 point game most of the way. Then our 3-pointers started dropping and things started going our way. When we went up 15, I thought it looked good."
The Wolfpack led 50-44 at the half, but blew things open by shooting 61 percent (22-36) after the break. They hit 54 percent (38-70) for the game.
But the defensive effort in the second half against Weatherspoon, the two-time Metro Conference player of the year, was just as important.
Weatherspoon scored 21 points with 12 rebounds, but just six points and four rebounds came in the final 20 minutes.
Gugliotta, who is almost as muscular and two inches taller, forced Weatherspoon away from the basket. Feggins also provided backside help.
Southern Mississippi led 35-34 with 5:23 left in the first half when a technical foul call on Turk contributed to a six-point spurt by the Wolfpack that took them to a 40-35 lead.
The Eagles never led again and got no closer than four points. see
microfilm for box score
Keywords:
BASKETBALL
by CNB