RALEIGH -- Despite game highs of 23 points and 10 rebounds from Rafael Araujo, BYU ran into a hot North Carolina State team in a 89-62 loss at the RBC Center Wednesday night. The Cougars fell to 10-3, while the Wolfpack improved to 8-2.
Araujo was 8-for-15 from the field and recorded his ninth double-double of the year. Senior forward Mark Bigelow was the only other Cougar in double figures with 16 points.
NCSU shot a season high 59 percent on 34-for-58 shooting and held BYU to a season-low 40 percent shooting on 21-of-52 shooting.
"They played a phenomenal game tonight," BYU coach Steve Cleveland said. "They kicked the living daylights out of us. It's hard to find very many positive things about this game.
"It was a total collapse at both ends of the floor for us. It's unacceptable to have an effort like that."
The Cougars held their only lead after Araujo laid in the first two points of the game for a 2-0 lead. From there the Wolfpack swarmed the Cougars in the first half, incrementally building up a commanding lead.
With the score tied at 6-6, NCSU used an 8-0 run within a 2:35 span to take a 14-6 lead. An Araujo baby hook in the lane with 12:09 to go in the half stemmed the tide and reestablished the Cougars on the scoreboard.
"I thought Hoffa (Araujo) did a solid job," Cleveland said. "He did what he was supposed to do."
Ilian Evtimov then went on a tear for the Wolfpack making three consecutive treys in just over three minutes. His last 3-pointer stretched the NCSU lead to 29-13. The story of the first half revolved around turnovers. NCSU forced 13 turnovers and converted them into 22 points, while BYU force one turnover for one point.
In the second half, BYU again struck first with a basket by Luiz Lemes, and the Cougars traded basket-for-basket in the early going, but were unable to sustain offensive cohesion as the Wolfpack added to their lead.
The Cougars won the turnover battle in the second half, forcing the Wolfpack to cough up the ball six times, while only committing four turnovers themselves. Another highlight for BYU was its hot shooting from the charity stripe, as the Cougars shot 88 percent, 15-of-17 from the foul line.
Julius Hodge led the Wolfpack with 23 points, six rebounds and four assists.
BYU will open its Mountain West Conference schedule on the road at San Diego State on Monday at 8 p.m. (MST). The game will be broadcast on KSL-TV (Channel 5), and will be produced by SportsWest Productions.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
BYU Cougars vs NC State Wolfpack
01/07/04 8:00pm at RBC Center - Raleigh, NC
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VISITORS: BYU Cougars 10-3
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 HALL, Mike.......... * 1-4 0-1 2-2 0 2 2 4 4 0 2 0 0 32
03 BIGELOW, Mark....... * 5-11 2-6 4-4 1 6 7 0 16 4 1 0 0 33
04 LEMES, Luiz......... * 2-7 1-4 0-0 0 2 2 2 5 2 3 0 1 33
52 JENSEN, Jared....... * 1-1 0-0 2-2 1 1 2 3 4 0 2 0 0 7
55 ARAUJO, Rafael...... * 8-15 0-0 7-9 5 5 10 3 23 2 2 0 0 36
00 WOODBERRY, Kevin.... 2-6 1-3 0-0 1 2 3 2 5 3 2 0 0 32
02 ROSE, Mike.......... 1-2 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 6
05 SHOFF, Jake......... 0-1 0-0 0-0 2 1 3 3 0 0 4 0 0 8
10 NASHIF, Terry....... 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
13 AINGE, Austin....... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2
41 MEADS, Garner....... 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 2 1 0 1 0 8
TEAM................ 1 1 1
Totals.............. 21-52 5-18 15-17 10 20 30 20 62 12 17 1 1 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-21 52.4% 2nd Half: 10-31 32.3% Game: 40.4% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-6 33.3% 2nd Half: 3-12 25.0% Game: 27.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 10-11 90.9% 2nd Half: 5-6 83.3% Game: 88.2% 1
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HOME TEAM: NC State Wolfpack 8-2
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
03 Evtimov, Ilian...... * 5-7 3-4 0-0 1 1 2 4 13 5 0 0 2 29
14 Atsur, Engin........ * 4-5 2-3 0-2 0 1 1 2 10 2 0 0 1 20
23 Sherrill, Scooter... * 2-4 0-1 5-6 1 0 1 2 9 2 3 0 0 22
24 Hodge, Julius....... * 9-15 0-2 5-5 0 4 4 0 23 6 1 0 4 35
54 Melvin, Marcus...... * 7-11 1-3 0-1 1 8 9 2 15 3 0 1 0 31
04 O'Donnell, Mike..... 2-5 1-4 1-1 0 0 0 1 6 1 1 0 0 20
10 McCoy, Chris........ 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
13 Bennerman, Cameron.. 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 2 1 0 0 0 12
21 Watkins, Levi....... 2-6 1-3 2-2 0 4 4 3 7 5 1 0 1 17
22 Roach, Will......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1
32 Collins, Jordan..... 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0 2 2 2 0 1 1 0 11
34 Simons, Adam........ 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 1
TEAM................ 2 2 4
Totals.............. 34-58 8-21 13-17 7 22 29 18 89 26 7 2 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 19-32 59.4% 2nd Half: 15-26 57.7% Game: 58.6% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 6-12 50.0% 2nd Half: 2-9 22.2% Game: 38.1% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-6 66.7% 2nd Half: 9-11 81.8% Game: 76.5% 1
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Officials: Karl Hess, Larry Rose, Ray Natili
Technical fouls: BYU Cougars-None. NC State Wolfpack-None.
Attendance: 12548
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
BYU Cougars................... 34 28 - 62
NC State Wolfpack............. 48 41 - 89
Points in the paint-BY 32,NCSTATE 42. Points off turnovers-BY 7,NCSTATE 28.
2nd chance points-BY 11,NCSTATE 4. Fast break points-BY 4,NCSTATE 4.
Bench points-BY 10,NCSTATE 19. Score tied-1 time. Lead changes-1 time.