Colleges

Wolfpack freshman has third big game

Costner's team loses, but the forward hits big numbers.

By GREG AUMAN
Published March 12, 2007

TAMPA - When your name is next to David Thompson's in the record book, you know you've had a strong freshman season.

N.C. State forward Brandon Costner fell short of leading his team to an improbable ACC championship. But his four games in four days rank among the best tournaments in Wolfpack history.

Costner's three 20-point games - 30 against Duke, 22 against Virginia and 28 in Sunday's final against North Carolina - for 80 points rank as N.C. State's second-best three-game total in 54 years of ACC tournaments. Only Thompson's 84 in 1975, which also ended with a loss to UNC, rank higher.

"Brandon Costner had a big-time day for them," UNC coach Roy Williams said.

Costner, who scored 10 Saturday against Virginia Tech, joined UNC's Brandan Wright as the only unanimous selections on the all-tournament team and was joined on the first team by teammate Gavin Grant and UNC's Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington.

"It's not something I expected, but it's also not something I didn't expect," Costner said. "I'm capable of that. It just so happened that at this tournament, the opportunities were presented to me. Next game, it might be somebody else."

Three N.C. State starters - guards Engin Atsur and Courtney Fells and forward Ben McCauley - made the all-tournament second team along with Florida State's Al Thornton and Boston College's Tyrese Rice.

RARE COMPANY: Wright is only the fifth freshman to be named tournament MVP. The others: UNC's Phil Ford 1975, Sam Perkins (1981) and Jerry Stackhouse (1994) and Duke's Jason Williams (2000).

MAKING THE MOST: UNC reserve guard Wes Miller played only four minutes Sunday, but he hit two 3-pointers in a span of 34 seconds, part of a 15-4 run that turned a 30-27 deficit into a 42-34 halftime lead.

"It's the one thing we haven't experienced since we've been here," Miller said. "I grew up in the state of North Carolina, lived there my whole life. My dad's been taking me to the ACC tournament since ... my mom tells me I was there when I was 1 year old, when she was holding me in her arms. It means the world to me."

ALL BUT ONE: The Tar Heels went 23-for-24 (95.8 percent) at the line, the best percentage for a title game for more than 15 free throws. Tyler Hansbrough, wearing a clear mask to protect a nose broken March 4, set the individual title game record at 11-for-11.

Greg Auman can be reached at auman@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3346.

[Last modified March 12, 2007, 01:02:48]