Meister der Farbe » wild card and with the postseason, shortsto

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Dennis Smith Jr. is back to playing like himself. Still, he looked like someone else to the opposing coach.Smith scored a career-high 30 points to help North Carolina State beat Loyola-Chicago 79-77 on Saturday.Torin Dorn added 20 points for the Wolfpack (5-1), who shot 51 percent from the floor.Smith, a freshman point guard, made 13 of 22 shots from the floor and added seven assists. He opened the season a combined 6 of 22 in the first two games.Im much more comfortable, Smith said. Im still finding my way, just like everybody else. Were going to get a lot better.Abdul-Malik Abu broke a 71-71 tie with a tip-in with 3:29 remaining to give N.C. State the lead for good.Smith provided a steal and layup, assisted on a dunk by Abu and made two free throws to keep his team in front.Dennis Smith was phenomenal, Loyola coach Porter Moser said. He was like (Russell) Westbrook the way he was that quick and that athletic. . I mean, hes all that and more than advertised.Terry Henderson scored 19 points for the Wolfpack, who missed the front end of two one-and-ones in the final 7 seconds.Markell Johnson stole the ball from Loyolas Milton Doyle after the first, and Cameron Satterwhites heave from just beyond halfcourt missed after the second.Aundre Jackson scored 20 points to lead Loyola (5-2), which led by as many as 11 points in the first half.Ben Richardson had 16 points for the Ramblers, who made 10 of 17 3-point attempts.Doyle had 12 points and Clayton Custer had 11 for Loyola.BIG PICTURELoyola: With their lack of size inside, the Ramblers are going to have trouble defending around the basket just as they did against the Wolfpack. But their spread offense is legit, and they gave N.C. State fits with it. Loyola had clear driving lanes to the basket and open 3-point attempts from all over the court throughout the game.N.C. State: The Wolfpack struggled defensively and got almost no production from their interior players against an undersized opponent. They continue to excel in the open court offensively, but they must improve defensively as conference play approaches. Weve got one guy wearing a blue sock and one guy wearing a green sock, N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried said. Two guys trying to guard are not on the same page. Weve got to get on the same page.HIGHLIGHT REELSmith showed his outstanding leaping ability early in the second half. Johnson missed a layup in transition, and Smith rebounded and dunked the ball in one motion to give the Wolfpack a 55-52 lead.HE SAID ITI love my team. The thing I can say most is that in that locker room, they were genuinely upset. They were hurting big-time. They came in here not to come close; they came in here to win. Thats a great sign when youre trying to develop culture in a program. -- MoserINJURIESN.C. State swingman Maverick Rowan missed his fifth consecutive game due to a concussion. Gottfried said Rowan will continue to be evaluated each day, but there is no timetable for his return.Wolfpack post player BeeJay Anya left the game late in the first half after being poked in the eye. He was cleared to return in the second half but did not re-enter the game.UP NEXTLoyola hosts Norfolk State on Wednesday night in the first game of a four-game homestand.N.C. State plays at Illinois on Tuesday night in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Nike Air Max Uk Sale Online . President of baseball operations Larry Beinfest was fired Friday after 12 years with the Marlins. The move came as the team neared the end of its third consecutive last-place season in the NL East. Nike Air Max Discount Uk . It might not have mattered. While the Dodgers are preparing for the playoffs, the Padres showed their future has promise behind two rookies. http://www.ukairmax.com/ . The 20-year-old Pelicans big man glanced up and smiled widely at the well-wishers -- a fitting end to a day he wont soon forget. Davis responded to his selection earlier in the day as a Western Conference All-Star with 26 points and 10 rebounds, and the New Orleans Pelicans overcame a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves 98-91 on Friday night. Nike Air Max Cheap Uk Online . Three came down to the fourth quarter while quarterbacks continued to shine in all four games; so important to the overall quality of the game. Cheap Air Max Uk Sale . Brazilian national coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has confirmed that the veteran goalkeeper is set to join Toronto on loan, saying it will help him be ready for the World Cup. SAN FRANCISCO -- Pitcher Jake Peavy grabbed the microphone and promised a sellout crowd more special October baseball, and who could doubt him given the Giants recent history of even-year World Series success?Ace right-hander Johnny Cueto tossed a baseball into the seats in celebration Sunday, then expressed his thanks to a higher power for putting him in another winning situation this season after last falls World Series victory in Kansas City.That energys back, Peavy said. This isnt the last game were playing at AT&T ballpark, theres no chance.Yet the way the Giants played in the second half, when nearly everything seemed to go wrong at some point and the old reliable bullpen blew it over and over again, manager Bruce Bochy couldnt help but wonder if his team could pull it off in the end. With all that talent and depth, San Francisco nearly squandered a big chance.Bochy never counted on the Giants getting any help to reach the playoffs, either.On Sunday, he knew his club would have to get there on its own -- and thats exactly what San Francisco did on the seasons last day.Its a tough group. I kept saying, `Theyve been through it, theyre battle-tested, he said. We stayed in it a lot longer than I thought. When they needed to answer the bell, they did it.The Giants owned the best record at the All-Star break at 57-33, sputtered for months then all but needed to sweep the division champion Dodgers to return to the postseason. They did just that to wrap up the second wild card and headed East on Monday ahead of Wednesday nights game against the New York Mets for a spot in the Division Series against the Chicago Cubs.Now, ace left-hander Madison Bumgarner will take the ball just as the 2014 World Series MVP did two years ago at Pittsburgh with the season on the line. Noah Syndergaard will oppose Bumgarner, whose `14 postseason was among the best ever by a pitcher.It comes down to that one game, all the work weve put in comes down to that, Bumgarner said. ... Early in the season things were looking real promising for us, then we went through a pretty good stretch when it wasnt looking tooo promising at all.ddddddddddddhe Giants have momentum again. Things are clicking at the plate, with the pitching and on defense.Nobody wanted to travel first to St. Louis for a potential one-game playoff to determine the last wild card.This game is hard to explain sometimes, Bochy said. We just got in a funk between we were missing a couple guys and then we were sputtering offensively, we were trying to get this bullpen in order. For us to get there, and how we got there, I said earlier I felt we had to win out in this series. We couldnt count on somebody helping us. It was up to us to take care of business and these guys took care of business in a great way. Five runs the first two innings, they were on a mission.The Giants (87-75) finished the regular season with their first four-game winning streak of the second half.They have a chance to follow up those every-other-year championships the franchise has captured this decade: in 2010, `12 and `14. Many of the same faces have been around for them all.Its always fun to go to the postseason, especially with the core group of guys we have, some experience with the wild card and with the postseason, shortstop Brandon Crawford said. Its going to be fun. Weve done a good job of maintaining that belief that we would get here. Hopefully we can just keep it rolling. Weve been playing good baseball the last few days.Santiago Casilla lost his closers job. Sergio Romo got healthy and stabilized the ninth inning, and everybody in the tight-knit bullpen stuck together.Its unbelievable, Casilla said. This year, I believed 100 percent wed win the World Series, no matter what anybody was saying or how we made it. Sometimes its easy, sometimes its hard. We played hard, we believed. Now, we can win the World Series and make the city happy.Right fielder Hunter Pence has been telling Bochy for weeks how much he cherishes playing for something this time of year.This is October baseball, Pence said, its the best versus the best. ' ' '