Wolfpack wins 1st game in Spain

N.C. State beat CB Torrejon 83-76 on Tuesday to win the first of its five games in Spain.

The Wolfpack led by six at the half, and by as many as 15 in the fourth quarter, before the Spanish pro club cut the score to 80-74 in the final minute.

Statistics from the game are not yet available. Second-year coach Mark Gottfried talked about the game on the team's radio broadcast after win.

"It was a good game for our guys," Gottfried said. "I thought early in the game, we weren't moving our feet real well and got ourselves into trouble defensively."

Gottfried said a zone defense helped the Pack take control of the game after trailing 23-21 at the end of the first quarter.

"I liked our defense a little bit more in the second and third quarters," Gottfried said. "That was probably the key to us tonight."

Gottfried praised the play of freshmen Tyler Lewis and T.J. Warren, who both started -- along with Scott Wood, Thomas de Thaey and Jordan Vandenberg. A surprise for the Pack was the return of junior point guard Lorenzo Brown, who had minor knee surgery on June 26.

Gottfried also commented on the absence of freshman guard Rodney Purvis, who has not been cleared academically by the NCAA.

"I hate that he's not here, I just feel terrible for him because he's a young guy that I think has worked really hard," Gottfried said. "Academically, he has done everything that he has been asked to do."

Purvis' high school, the Upper Room Christian Academy in Raleigh, is under an extended review by the NCAA. Gottfried said the decision was in the hands of the NCAA.

"Our staff at N.C. State has done a great job, I think the high school is doing a great job," Gottfried said. "I think now, you're just at a point where they have to sort through everything and make a determination."