Tobacco Road has been kind to the NC State men’s basketball team in head coach Kevin Keatts’ first season. The Wolfpack beat Wake Forest 90-84 at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum Saturday to finish 4-1 against its Tobacco Road rivals and sweep the season series with Wake with its first win at Lawrence Joel since the 2011-12 season.
The Pack (18-9, 8-6) shot 51 percent from the field against the Demon Deacons (10-17, 3-12), and 46 percent from 3-point range. Four players finished in double figures, led by graduate guard Allerik Freeman with 24 points on 6-of-10 shooting (3 of 5 from beyond the arc). Sophomore guard Markell Johnson had a double double, with 10 points and 10 of the Pack’s 13 assists.
“I’m excited to get another road win in the ACC,” Keatts said. “Obviously any time you play on the road in this tough conference, it’s a tough battle. I give Wake Forest credit; I thought they battled us all the way to the end. We were fortunate, we made some plays down the stretch. … We found a way to win the game when we didn’t play well the last eight minutes of the game.”
The game started off even, as the Pack had a 3-point lead at the first media timeout. NC State saw a surprising shot fall about four minutes in, as with the shot clock winding down, a Wake defender deflected the ball to mid court, and senior forward Abdul-Malik Abu, not exactly known for his long-range prowess, sank a shot from the Demon Deacon logo.
After the Deacs got within one possession with a 3 from Crawford, a 10-3 run, capped off by a corner 3 from graduate guard Sam Hunt, gave the Pack a 32-23 lead with five minutes and change to play in the opening half. In addition to its own accuracy from beyond the arc, the Pack held the Demon Deacons to just 26 percent shooting from 3-point range.
“I thought it was good,” Keatts said of the 3-point battle. “When you look at it, we made 11 3s. We shot 45 percent. I thought on the other end, we did a great job defending the 3-point line.”
A 7-2 run then brought Wake Forest within two, before a pair of 3s from Hunt and Al Freeman pushed the Pack’s lead back to eight, and the Pack took a 40-34 lead to the half as Bryant Crawford, who scored a career-high 29 points, including 19 in the opening frame, closed the first-half scoring with a steal and layup.
The Pack opened the second half with an 11-6 run, with a 3 from Yurtseven just over four minutes in pushing the team’s lead to 11 at 51-40.
“[The 3-point shooting] was huge,” Yurtseven said. “They iced the pick and rolls, and then you either swing it or if you have an open jump shot at the top you shoot it. If you swing it, it’s a short roll and it’s definitely huge.”
The Pack continued to pull away, with a jumper from Yurtseven giving the team its largest lead of the game at 65-51 with 9:24 to play.
“We know that if we stick to defense, we can beat any team,” Yurtseven said. “That’s the mentality that we have. Everybody helps each other; everybody just buys in. If we just stick to the game plan that we decided on before the game with the coaches, it’s just going to happen.”
Johnson, who split his 10 assists evenly between the first and second half, was a member of last year’s NC State team that won four games in the ACC (a total the Pack has now doubled) and lost to Wake Forest by 30 in this building.
“Compared to last year, I think we won four games,” Johnson said. “Just coming in with a whole new staff, [we’re] just trusting each other and things like that.”
Wake managed to trim its deficit to nine with 5:30 left in the game, but a triple from Freeman quickly restored a double-digit lead for the Wolfpack.
The Demon Deacons got within eight with 2:59 left, and then within five with a 3 from Keyshawn Woods with 1:58 left. Crawford was fouled from beyond the line with 15.8 seconds left, and hit 2 of 3 free throws to make it 86-82. That’s as close as it would get, however, as the Pack walked away with its first win in Winston-Salem in six years.
The Pack will return home for its next game, taking on Boston College at PNC Arena at 7 p.m.
Freshman point guard Braxton Beverly looks for an opening in Wake Forest's defense at the NC State vs. Wake Forest men's basketball game hosted at Wake Forest University in the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Saturday. The Wolfpack won against the Demon Deacons with a final score of 90-84.
