NCAA Game Summary - UL-Lafayette vs. NC State

03.19.2004

Orlando, FL (Basketball News) - Marcus Melvin scored 20 points and pulled down nine boards to lead the North Carolina State Wolfpack to a 61-52 win over the UL-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns in the first round of the NCAA Tournament from TD Waterhouse Centre.

Julius Hodge added 14 points with 10 rebounds and Cameron Bennerman chipped in with 10 points for the third-seeded Wolfpack (21-9), who moved on in the Phoenix bracket to play the winner of Friday afternoon’s Vanderbilt-Western Michigan matchup.

N.C. State played without Scooter Sherrill, as the talented guard is battling a lingering ankle injury, as the team’s erased the taste of a heartbreaking 76-74 overtime loss in the first round to California in last season’s tourney.

Antoine Landry led the 14th-seeded Ragin’ Cajuns (20-9) with 16 points in his final collegiate game, and Brian Hamilton scored nine with a team-high eight rebounds, as UL-Lafayette had its five-game winning streak, and season, ended by the Wolfpack.

Neither team shot well from the field, as the Wolfpack connected on just 18- of-49 shots (36.7 percent) and UL-Lafayette was even worse at a 16-for-49 clip (32.7 percent).

The Ragin’ Cajuns scored the first four points of the contest, but N.C. State responded by scoring nine in a row. Ilian Evtimov’s free throw with just under five minutes gone staked the Wolfpack to a 9-4 edge.

UL-Lafayette then used a 14-4 surge, capped by a pair of Hamilton free throws with 8:42 remaining in the half, to grab a 18-13 lead.

But the Wolfpack replied with an 8-0 run, ended by a Hodge layup with 5:30 left in the half, to move in front by a 21-18 score.

The teams played the final five minutes of the stanza fairly even, and N.C. State held a small lead at 27-23 heading into the locker room.

Melvin led the way for all scorers with 13 points, and Hamilton paced the Ragin’ Cajuns with eight. Hodge had only four points on 2-of-7 shooting.

N.C. State finally captured its first double-digit lead of the game at 38-28 on a Bennerman free throw 4:24 into the second half.

Each team scored only seven points over the next nine minutes, and the Wolfpack still led by 10 at 45-35 with under seven minutes to play.

The Ragin’ Cajuns cut the margin to seven on several occasions down the stretch, but could get no closer.

UL-Lafayette was the 2004 Sun Belt Conference regular season and tournament champions...The Ragin’ Cajuns dropped to 4-9 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, while NC State improved to 29-18...This is only N.C. State’s fourth appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 1991...Evtimov had eight points with six rebounds...UL-Lafayette has not registered a victory in the tourney since it was the No. 13 seed in 1992 and upset fourth-seeded Oklahoma in Tempe, 87-83...This was the first-ever meeting between the clubs.

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