Wolfpack rolls in exhibition

For the first time in Sidney Lowe's now five-year reign at NC State, the Pack broke 100 points en route to an easy 111-73 win over Pfeiffer in an exhibition game at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh Tuesday night.

"That was good to see," Lowe admitted after the game. "That they could put that number up there. I think that it shows we'll play a little faster."

They did so with 4:43 left in the game after freshman point guard Ryan Harrow made a pair of free throws to give State a 101-65 lead. If the pace Tuesday night was any indication, there could be quite a few more 100-point games for the Pack this season. It's a far cry from the teams that only scored at least 90 points in Lowe's first four years a total of four times.

Lowe wants his team to run at every opportunity, and he will use a bench that can go 10 deep this year to make it happen.

"We want to run every time, make or miss, to put the pressure on the defense," Lowe noted. "We're going to have to play nine or 10 players. The pace that we want to play, we're going to have to do that. That's the way we need to play.

"We've been trying to get to this point with the type of players that we have. We've been trying to get here for four years. We're finally there, and we have more players that can create opportunities. We finally have guys that want to run, and we're going to keep running."

Tuesday night was the first time the Wolfpack faithful had a chance to see the highly touted freshman class of guards Ryan Harrow and Lorenzo Brown and forward C.J. Leslie in competitive game action. They did not disappoint.

Brown, the only one of the three to start, helped set the tone early, scoring 10 of State's first 15 points, including a pair of three-pointers and an alley-oop dunk off an assist from sophomore wing Scott Wood.

Brown finished with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting and added six assists, six rebounds and a pair of steals in a team-high 28 minutes. Not to be outdone, both Harrow and Leslie came off the bench, playing 20 minutes, to score 17 points.

"They're good basketball players," Lowe stated. "They're very talented. I think you saw some of the things they can do, but again they're learning, and it's going to be a learning curve. We can't get too excited about it."

Harrow also added eight assists and had just one turnover.

"He plays that position not just with the right attitude but mentally," Lowe said. "He understands everything that we're doing. He understands all the offense, all the defense, where everyone should be on the floor. He's in control of it. I think as time goes on he'll show that even more."

Leslie had seven rebounds and two assists. Senior forward Tracy Smith also added 17 points to go with five rebounds, four steals and three blocks, the latter both team-highs. Also scoring in double digits was Wood with 14 points and junior wing C.J. Williams off the bench with 13.

Sophomore forward Richard Howell and senior guard Javier Gonzalez joined Brown, Smith and Wood in the starting lineup. Gonzalez had five points and five assists with just one turnover while Howell had four points and a team-high 10 rebounds.

NC State was able to play at a fast pace while taking care of the basketball. State had just 12 turnovers with its 26 assists, and they shot 56.2 percent from the field. They also pressured Pfeiffer into 19 turnovers and held them to 34.6 percent shooting.

Pfeiffer got strong nights from their senior combination of forward Chris Woods and guard Jeff Pettiway. Woods led all scorers with 23 points, and Pettiway added 21.