Instant observations: No. 23 NC State bounces back to beat Boise State at Maui Invitational

NC State coach Will Wade stood in front of his team in the Lahaina Civic Center locker room and laid out what the Wolfpack needed to do against Boise State: play with energy, rebound well and keep the Broncos off the free throw line.  Although the Pack wasn’t able to win the latter two aspects of the matchup with the Broncos, it did edge them in the most-important stat of the game: the scoreboard.  No. 23 NC State bounced back after dropping its first game of the season with an 81-70 win over Boise State at the Maui Invitational on Tuesday afternoon. The Pack advances to the fifth-place game, which is set for Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. ET, against the winner of Chaminade and Texas. But against the Broncos, the Wolfpack was able to deal with adversity in the early going as Boise State delivered several 7-0 runs to keep pace with NC State, but Wade’s team was able to weather the storm before its defense asserted itself after halftime.  The Pack limited the Broncos to just 34.5 percent shooting in the final 20 minutes, including a stretch where it made just one of its previous 12 as it went scoreless for more than six minutes in the final stages of the second half. NC State’s offense, meanwhile, turned in a 56 percent clip of its own to earn the victory. Senior forward Darrion Williams led the Wolfpack with 16 points, while senior forward Ven-Allen Lubin and redshirt junior guard Terrance Arceneaux added 11 points each.  Here are TheWolfpacker.com’s observations from NC State's fifth victory of the season.