NC State comes on late to take down Wake 72-63

At times it felt as NC State was going to let this one slip away.

Although NC State spent a majority of this game within a few points of the Deamon Deacons, it felt as if they may never get over the hump.

That was until Keatts finally found a combination that clicked.

Markell Johnson, Lavar Batts Jr, Braxton Beverly, Torin Dorn and Omer Yurtseven came in at around the 5-minute mark and everything changed. Suddenly, NC State was getting stops and their offense was getting easy buckets. They went a 10-0 run to close the game. Taking it from down 1 at 63-62 with 3:28 left, to a 72-63 victory.

Before that final push, it was all Omer Yurtseven. The sophomore big man continued his emergence as NC State’s go-to scorer. He finished with 22 points and 8 rebounds on the night.

The other impressive lines came from Braxton Beverly (who just missed a double-double at 10 points and 9 assists) and Markell Johnson (who added 13 points, 4 assists and 6 rebounds).

Wake was a tough group to figure out for the Pack. They had 3 guards who could all score and a big (Doral Moore) who was having his best ACC performance to date. They shot over 50% in the first half, but Keatts made adjustments at halftime and the Pack held them to an ice cold 27.8% from the floor in the 2nd half

NC State also took care of business in all the key categories. They won the battle of the offensive boards 12-11. They won the turnover battle committing only 12 while forcing 13. They shot the ball better, finishing up at 42% to Wake’s 38%. And they got to the line more, shooting 20 FTs to Wake’s 15.

NC State moves to 13-6 overall and 3-3 in the ACC. Next up is #25 Miami on Sunday.