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NC State

NC State picks up first ACC road win vs. Virginia Tech

On3 imageby: Ethan McDowell01/08/23ethanmmcdowell
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NC State guard Casey Morsell (Photo by Spencer Thomas/On3)

Despite a cold-shooting second half and a dramatic comeback in the final minute, NC State held off Virginia Tech on the road and defeated the Hokies 73-69 in a wire-to-wire win thanks to some clutch free throw shooting in the final minute.

The Wolfpack held a 9-point lead with 1:03 to go in the matchup, but Virginia Tech guard Darius Maddox kept the home team in the game by scoring 11-consecutive points to make it a 3-point game with 16 seconds to go. NC State hit 8 free throws in the final minute to help secure the victory.

Virginia Tech’s crowd was extremely loud throughout the comeback attempt, but the Wolfpack embraced that adversity and did not let the noise rattle the team.

“I’ve played a lot of basketball, been in a lot of big gyms,” Jarkel Joiner said. “It was fun man. Coach [Kareem] Richardson, was saying it’s fun. We never got down. We knew they would make a run. We didn’t know it was going to be that late, but we knew what type of team they were, but we stayed with it, made free throws and won the game.”

Head coach Kevin Keatts made sure to acknowledge how tough ACC road wins are to come by after the game.

“I thought we made free throws, we made plays down the stretch when we needed to,” Keatts said. “And I’m proud of our guys. It’s hard to finish games. It’s hard to win games in this league and especially on the road.”

Sophomore guard Terquavion Smith ended pregame warmups with a three from the logo, and the net barely moved as the ball shot through. Turns out, that was a sign of things to come in the opening minutes of the game.

Coming into the night riding the momentum from Wednesday’s win over No. 16 Duke, NC State hit 6 of its first 9 shots to jump out to an early lead. Smith hit his first 2 threes and finished with 22 points in the win.

Virginia Tech shot 38 percent in the first half, and the Wolfpack did not let its collective foot off the gas pedal, forcing 6 turnovers and scoring 11 points off of those miscues. Lynn Kidd, a backup big man for VT who came into the matchup averaging 4.8 points-per-game, was the only Virginia Tech athlete to score more than one bucket from the field in the first half.

NC State started the second half cold, turning the ball over twice and allowing a 7-0 run out of the gate, which led to an early timeout. Casey Morsell answered Virginia Tech with a 5-0 run on his own. He finished the game with 15 points, third on the Wolfpack behind Smith and Joiner, who finished the game with 21, including a cutch 8 for 10 from the free throw line.

Going into the under-eight-minute timeout, D.J. Burns Jr., Joiner and Gregg Gantt all had 3 fouls, with the graduate transfer big man picking up his fourth shortly after. Four members of the pack, Burns, Joiner, Morsell and Smith finished the game 10 points or more.

The Wolfpack now stands 13-4 overall and 3-3 in the ACC and returns to action Jan. 14 against Miami at home.

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