Sports
TECHNICIAN
PAGE 11 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 2018
Beverly’s toughness leads Wolfpack back court Andrew Schnittker Sports Editor
With 2:47 left in the NC State men’s basketball team’s 96-85 upset win over the then No. 2 Duke Blue Devils at PNC Arena Saturday, freshman point guard Braxton Beverly pulled up and nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the key, putting the Pack up 82-76 and sending the sellout crowd into a frenzy. Beverly made his mark on a moment Pack fans will remember forever, and etched his own name into NC State history. Turn the clock back to the day before, and Beverly is spending the team’s postpractice media availability reflecting on what’s already been a whirlwind season for the first-year transfer out of Ohio State three games into ACC play. Beverly admitted that, earlier in the season, when the NCAA was still debating his eligibility and he was sitting on the bench, he couldn’t have imagined a moment like the one against Duke, or any that came before it. “I didn’t,” Beverly said. “It’s crazy how things work out. But I’m glad it worked out the way it did. I’m glad I’m out here and able to help out my team, help out my brothers and get some wins.” There’s a chance Beverly could have never taken the floor for NC State this season. His original plan was to play college basketball at Ohio State University. However, after the Buckeyes fired head coach Thad Matta, Beverly decided he wanted to play elsewhere, and transferred to NC State to play under head coach Kevin Keatts, who coached at Hargrave Military Academy where Beverly had spent the previous two years. Things weren’t as simple as the Hazard, Kentucky, native swapping one red jersey for another, however. Beverly took summer classes while at Ohio State before Matta was fired. The NCAA initially ruled that he was ineligible because of this, and ruled that he had to sit out a year. Of course, that wasn’t fair. It wasn’t Beverly’s fault his coach was fired, and he had just tried to get a jump on his education. However, the NCAA has more than once in the past not been interested in playing fair, and it seemed Beverly would be another victim. However, hours before a game against Bryant University on Nov. 14, the NCAA cleared Beverly. He played that night, putting up two points, two rebounds and an assist in 16 minutes. Facing down the prospect of a year away from the game he loved has given Beverly an even greater appreciation for the opportunity in front of him.
NICK FAULKNER/TECHNICIAN
Freshman guard Braxton Beverly breaks around Duke’s Grayson Allen. Beverly dished out five assists to go along with 14 points during the 96-85 win over No. 2 Duke in PNC Arena Saturday.
“It makes you really not take it for granted,” Beverly said. “Not even that, even with that, I would have been able to play last year. Just, even say you get hurt, it’s taken away from you. Just make sure you can’t take it for granted. You’ve got to enjoy every second that you get with it.” It was certainly difficult at times for Beverly to see the light at the end of the tunnel during the drawn out NCAA saga, but he
had a strong support system in place to help him stay focused and positive. “I give a lot of credit to my coaches, my family and my teammates here,” Beverly said. “There was times it just kind of got tiring. You want to play. I wanted to play and it was just kind of hurting that I had to sit out. The way that my teammates stayed positive for me, my coaches, my family. It was hard at times, but they all just stayed
positive. However it works out, it will work out. They just kept me informed that they were going to have my back no matter what.” The payoff for staying with it has been worth it for Beverly. The team eased him in to start the year, but that was no longer an
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