NC State Falls in Final Seconds to Lipscomb, 94-93

Lipscomb’s rally in the final minute of play sucked the air out of the deafening Reynolds Coliseum, defeating the Wolfpack 94-93.

A Markell Johnson 3-pointer gave the Wolfpack a 3-point lead with 41 seconds left on the clock.

After Garrison Matthews made 1 of 2 free throws with 26 seconds left, Torin Dorn threw the inbounds pass away instead of calling a timeout, and Kenny Cooper hit a three from the corner to give the Bison a 1-point lead.

Johnson came straight down the court and took it to the hole to give the Wolfpack a 1-point lead with 10 seconds left.

Unfortunately, Cooper came back down and played the hero, hitting a contested jumper with 1.7 seconds on the clock, securing the victory for Lipscomb.

NC State didn’t have an answer for Garrison Matthews, who scored a career high 44 points, hitting 8 of his 13 three-point attempts. The 44-point outburst is the most EVER by a Wolfpack foe in Reynolds.

It’s sad that the last thing Dorn will remember from his final game in Reynolds is his costly turnover at the end of the game. Dorn played the best game of his career, posting a career high 34 points, along with 9 rebounds.

The 34 points also mark a new NC State record for points scored in an NIT game.

“2nd half Markell” showed up once again, scoring all 19 of his points in the 2nd half, but it wasn’t enough.

The Wolfpack ended up losing a game in which they led for 72.8% of the time.

NC State finished their 2018-19 campaign with a 24-12 record.

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