A little better ballhandling and State would have beaten Syracuse

N.C. State sophomore Scott Wood and freshman Lorenzo Brown made late-game ballhandling errors that led to turnovers and stopped any chance of the Wolfpack coming back in a 65-59 loss at Syracuse.

But actually the game was lost midway through the second half. With State up 56-53, Syracuse employed full court pressure and the Pack got discombobulated. Three turnovers and a shot-clock violation later, Syracuse ended a 10-3 run to take a 57-56 lead.

State led once more on a basket by freshman C.J. Leslie to make it 58-57 but the Pack never scored another bucket the rest of the way - in other words, they went nine minutes with only one basket.

After Syracuse went up 59-58, the Wolfpack had a chance to take lead, but Leslie, who had penetrated the defense, threw a weak pass back out that was picked off. Later, Wood had a chance with an open three with 45 seconds left that would have put the Pack up but missed. Then he missed a harder three from further out 20 seconds later that would have tied it.

The Wolfpack committed 17 turnovers that resulted in 26 points for Syracuse whereas the Orange turned it over only five times leading to just four points for State.