Freshman J.J. Hickson did just about everything right in N.C. State’s game on Saturday afternoon.
He scored. He rebounded. And he single-handedly led his team to a 74-62 win over Western Carolina at the RBC Center.
“My teammates were lacking on the perimeter,” Hickson said. “So, I took it upon myself to just go in and carry my team.”
Hickson led the team in scoring and rebounding with 33 and 13, respectively. And he didn’t commit a foul during the entire game while only committing three turnovers.
Of his 33 points, 22 came in the second half. Hickson went 10-of-11 from the field and 13-of-16 from the line in 33 minutes to go along with three blocks and two steals. The 33 points is a career-high for the center.
But the win didn’t come easy.
Both teams would shoot 50 percent from the field in the first half, but State struggled with turnovers – 11 in the half, compared to only two from Western Carolina. That led to a 41-32 halftime lead for the Catamounts.
Western Carolina led by 11 nearly a minute into the second half. But following a 19-2 run that spanned nearly nine minutes, the Wolfpack went from down 11 to up six near the midway point in the second half.
However, the Catamounts would tie the contest at 55-55. For the next few minutes, the teams exchanged baskets until State pulled away late with several easy buckets from Hickson.
But coach Sidney Lowe didn’t want to give all the credit Hickson.
“Obviously, J.J., he plays hard,” Lowe said. “But I give a lot of that credit to his teammates. The fact that they looked for him, they found him, they knew he had an advantage down there – and they were patient enough. Because we had opportunities where we had some outside shots but we turned them down to look for the big fella inside.”
Redshirt sophomore forward Brandon Costner finished the game with 10 points, seven assists and five rebounds. And junior forward Ben McCauley, who only played 16 minutes, finished with 12 points while shooting 3-of-6 from the field and 6-of-6 overall.
State plays Presbyterian on Jan. 5 followed by North Carolina Central on Jan. 9. Following the two nonconference games, State begins ACC play at North Carolina on Jan. 12.
