Statistically speaking, it could be said that point guards Marcus Paige of North Carolina and Lorenzo Brown of N.C. State played to a stalemate Saturday at the Smith Center. But a fair assessment would be that Paige, UNC's freshman playmaker, won the battle with big plays in the second half that helped resurrect the Tar Heels for a 76-65 victory.
She was once blonde and young, and her skin was warm and with life. Now she is old, shuffles to walk, takes long naps, and her skin is thin, white and cold.
Four Duke starters finished with four fouls, including seniors Mason Plumlee and Seth Curry. But the Blue Devils made all but one of their 14 free throws in the second half, including 12 in a row over the final 3:16 of the game, to put away rival North Carolina 73-68 for the sixth time in the past eight meetings.
Sometimes you watch. It is late in the day and the moon is early, curtseying in the sky.
Sooner or later, N.C. State will end Duke’s streak against the Wolfpack at Cameron Indoor Stadium. It was obvious early that Thursday night’s game wasn’t going to be the one, with the Blue Devils recording a 98-85 win. Not that they didn’t make it interesting by shooting 65.5 percent from the floor in the second half.
He has a splinter in the index finger of his right hand, and he looks to the eyes of his father.
Former Duke star Gene Banks, the 1978 ACC rookie of the year who played in the NBA, is a scout for the Washington Wizards. Banks was in McDougald-McLendon Gymnasium to put his eyes on a kid from Morgan State, but he left liking what he saw out of three of NCCU coach LeVelle Moton’s guys.
Win No. 900 for North Carolina women’s basketball coach Sylvia Hatchell will have to wait until the Tar Heels’ trip to Boston College on Thursday or perhaps Georgia Tech this coming Sunday.
Or if they play the way they did in the first half of their 84-63 loss to No. 5 Duke on Sunday at Carmichael Arena, it could take a while longer.
If all good stories have a beginning, then this great story really does not begin nor does it end.
It was once a place that a man lived. It was a place where this man lived and he tended the land by mule and plow and the sweat from their efforts, combined, were the first elements of moisture felt against the eagerness of a single seed.
She smelled like skunk, red dirt, old shoes, weathered leather, wild onions, wet leaves, molded straw and the dark side of the barn, where the sun never shines and last week’s rain puddles.
While the N.C. State players and fans celebrate one of their program’s biggest wins in years, the Duke Blue Devils are left to regroup after their first loss of the season. The Wolfpack claimed an 84-76 victory Saturday at PNC Arena in Duke’s first test without 6-10 senior Ryan Kelly in the lineup.
It was routine. His son is tucked beneath a blanket, a quilt and a sheet. Darkness and only the faint glow of a nightlight provides a source for shadows.
He is young and old, all at once. He has outlasted tools, even though his calloused hands are scarred.
They were born six minutes apart. It rained that day and their mother said the raindrops were tears of joy from the forever above. He wanted a boy and she wanted a girl and they were both grateful to name boy and girl and even more thankful they were healthy.
