No. 18 N.C. State fell to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons 86-84 Tuesday night at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem. The Wolfpack led by as many as 16 points in the contest, but faltered in the second half to drop to 15-4 overall and 4-2 in the ACC.
“Hats off to Wake Forest,” State head coach Mark Gottfried said. “The difference was – I didn’t think we defended nearly as well as we could in the second half.”
The Demon Deacons shot a sizzling 59.4 percent in the second half, consistently driving to the lane after the Wolfpack went into a zone to compensate for foul trouble.
“I challenged them at halftime,” Wake Forest head coach Jeff Bzdelik said. “I thought we were tentative. I thought we were unsure, we didn’t have the belief that we could play.”
“They made a lot of shots, tough shots.” Gottfried said. “The name of the game for N.C. State was we have got to guard better, period.”
Wake Forest freshman forward Devin Thomas lit up N.C. State’s more experienced frontcourt. The Harrisburg, Pa. native scored a career-high 25 points and hauled in 14 rebounds to propel the Demon Deacons to the upset.
“Thomas had a great game.” Gottfried said. “We could not keep him off the backboard.”
“I had never heard of him before this game,” freshman forward T.J. Warren said.
State led 47-31 late in the first half. The Pack shot 55.6 percent in the opening period.
Early in the second half, junior forward C.J. Leslie committed his third and fourth fouls on consecutive defensive possessions and Gottfried was forced to remove the Holly Springs native with 17:26 to play and the Pack leading by 10 points.
It was then that Wake Forest began its surge.
The Demon Deacons outscored the Wolfpack 39-19 over the ensuing 14 minutes of action and held an 82-72 lead with less than four minutes to play.
“He [Leslie] is a big time player for us,” junior guard Lorenzo Brown said. “He makes big time plays.”
“I thought foul trouble made us cautious.” Gottfried said.
Trailing by 10, the Pack made a final, desperate surge to level the game. Leslie connected on two free throws, and then followed with a block and dunk to cut the deficit to six. Brown later had a steal and fed freshman guard Rodney Purvis, who was fouled. The Raleigh native made one of two free throws, missing the second.
Senior forward Richard Howell corralled the miss and fed Scott Wood, who then missed an open three-pointer. Leslie rebounded and laid it in to cut Wake’s lead to two with 1:49 to play.
The Pack had several opportunities to tie, but missed three free throws in the final minute.
Five players for the Wolfpack scored in double figures, led by Purvis with 18 points. Howell had his 11th double-double of the season with 13 points and 16 rebounds. Brown also had a double-double, posting 13 points and 10 assists.
Howell and Brown both passed 1,000 points for their N.C. State careers Tuesday, marking the first time in school history that the Pack has four players on the same team with over 1,000 career points.
N.C. State returns to action Saturday at PNC Arena vs. UNC-Chapel Hill. Game-time is at 7 p.m., and it will be broadcast on ESPN.
