DATE: Sunday, November 23, 1997             TAG: 9711230147

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BRIAN J. FRENCH, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: RALEIGH                           LENGTH:   61 lines

N.C. STATE BEATS ECU TO KEEP BOWL HOPES ALIVE

North Carolina State came out for Saturday's game with East Carolina wearing red and seeing red. And by the end of the game, the Wolfpack put the Pirates in the red.

Draw your own conclusions from the Wolfpack's 37-24 win at Carter-Finley Stadium; certainly you'd have plenty to choose from.

Among them:

It was the first win for N.C. State over the Pirates since 1986, avenging last season's 50-24 East Carolina rout.

The Wolfpack (6-5) ended the regular season on a three-game win streak before a crowd of 51,500 and representatives from the Carquest, Peach and Ford Motor City bowl games.

East Carolina (5-6) ended a season below .500 for the first time since 1993.

Embattled Wolfpack coach Mike O'Cain may get an 11th-hour reprieve from the unemployment line.

``This win meant a lot to us, but it meant even more because of (O'Cain),'' tight end Mark Thomas said. ``He means a lot to us, and we take this victory as a way to show our appreciation of him.''

Neither offense showed much of anything in the first half, which ended with East Carolina leading 3-0. The Wolfpack was held to just over three yards per play and the Pirates running game - ranked next to last in Division I-A - played down to that level by rushing for 22 yards on 15 carries behind an offensive line outweighing N.C. State's defensive line by 40 pounds per player.

``Defensively the first half we played outstanding, and offensively we were a little uptight,'' O'Cain said. ``We had to settle down in the second half.''

Settle down they did. On the second play of the second half, Torry Holt caught a screen pass from Jamie Barnette and streaked 68 yards down the sideline to score. That started a 362-yard offensive avalanche for the Wolfpack.

``I thought I had died and gone to heaven, to be honest with you,'' O'Cain said. ``It was a heck of a second half.''

But the Pirates were putting on a heck of a show themselves. Dan Gonzalez threw for 149 of his 259 yards in the half with three scoring strikes, including a 40-yard pass to Marcellus Harris with 3:50 left in the game to tie the score at 24.

But Tremanye Stephens, who looked on the verge of breaking a long run for most of the game, finally did so with less than three minutes remaining on a 48-yard scamper down the sideline, putting the ball at the East Carolina 18 and setting up Barnette's go-ahead touchdown from one yard out with 31 seconds left.

``He's stepped up for us time after time,'' O'Cain said, ``and when we needed a big play late, he stepped up again. That's what a senior tailback is supposed to do.''

Clayton White ended the Pirates' last hope by returning an interception 34 yards to close out the scoring with two seconds left. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

ASSOCIATED PRESS

East Carolina's Scott Harley, left, cuts to his right to avoid N.C.

State's Duan Everett in the first half Saturday at Carter-Finley

Stadium in Raleigh.

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