NC State Holds on to Defeat Harvard 78-77 to Advance to Quarterfinals of the NIT

#2 seed NC State (24-11) held on to beat #6 seed Harvard (19-12) in the ‘Old Barn’ tonight 78-77 to advance to the Quarterfinals of the NIT.

In the 1st half the Wolfpack held a 12-point lead at the 8:39 mark, but that was the last time it was a comfortable NC State advantage.

Harvard quickly turned things around towards their advantage, and went into halftime with a 39-38 lead.

The scored bounced back and forth for the first 10 minutes of play in the 2nd half, with Harvard still holding the lead with 8:53 left in the game.

Though the game would come down to the final possession, the Wolfpack took the lead on a Braxton Beverly 3-pointer with 7:01 left in the game, and ultimately never lost it.

Tonight was not the Markell Johnson show. Despite missing much of the first half due to foul trouble, Johnson couldn’t ever find his shot. Johnson finished with 13 points on 4-12 shooting. He did lead the team with 5 assists.

Redshirt Junior CJ Bryce and Redshirt Sophomore Devon Daniels put the Pack on their back tonight. Bryce led NC State with 16 points (6-12 FG), accompanied by 7 rebounds. Daniels added 14 points (6-10 FG/2-5 3 PT) and 5 rebounds.

Despite shooting poorly, Redshirt Senior Torin Dorn and Sophomore Braxton Beverly both chipped in 10 points.

Harvard’s weakness was NC State’s strength tonight.

The Crimson struggled turning the ball over all year long, and tonight was no different.

The Wolfpack turned Harvard over 17 times, which resulted in 17 NC State points.

Without that stat line, NC State would have had a hard time wining this game.

Harvard outshot (52.7/40.0) and out-rebounded (37-33) the Pack tonight, but NC State was resilient in the end.

NC State survived and advanced to the Quarterfinals of the NIT, and will host Lipscomb on Wednesday night at 9pm in Reynolds Coliseum.