The NC State men’s basketball team had a chance late in the game to end its losing streak, but a late turnover and a controversial foul call let Florida State ice the game in the final seconds and take an 83-81 win out of Raleigh on Saturday, Jan. 1.

Down two with 8.3 seconds remaining, the Wolfpack (7-7, 0-3 ACC) had a chance for a game-tying or game-winning shot, but senior forward Jericole Hellems’ inbound pass out of a timeout got picked off, giving the Seminoles (7-4, 1-1 ACC) a chance to put the game out of reach at the free-throw line.

“We ran something to get [redshirt sophomore guard] Dereon [Seabron] the ball into a ball screen,” said head coach Kevin Keatts. “They doubled him and Jericole just for whatever reason, you know, obviously we turned it over. Looking back at it, I wish he would have looked just straight to his left because [freshman guard] Terquavion [Smith] was at the block and could have popped out and got an easy basket. We’re making younger mistakes that hopefully, you know, in the next week or two, it’s not the same mistakes.”

Seabron, who had taken the game by the scruff of its neck during the second half, had a lane to the basket in transition before the timeout, but Keatts opted to try and draw up a play.

“I feel like I probably could have made something happen there in transition because I feel like they weren’t matched up,” Seabron said. “They were just running back, they didn’t really have a play. But calling timeout gave them time to set up their defense and made it hard for us to get the ball in.”

Keatts praised Seabron’s view, saying he should see the game that way, but offered a different view of the situation.

“We called a timeout in half court and there were three defenders back,” Keatts said. “And I learned at the Purdue game — we had one timeout left and at the Purdue game, I didn’t call it and it was an unfavorable result towards I think the end of regulation — and so we called it. … [In] hindsight, looking back, I would have done the same thing, because I want to run something to try to get [Seabron] or somebody a shot. That didn’t lose us the game. It’s one of those things where in football, when you call a timeout the guy kicks a field goal, everybody says, ‘Oh man, the field goal was good.’ If we don’t call the timeout, it’s probably a turnover because he was going to drive into three or four guys.”

Florida State’s Cam’Ron Fletcher made the first and missed the second, giving the Pack one more chance at a potentially game-tying shot. But before the team could take it up the court, referee Ted Valentine blew his whistle on a loose-ball foul, giving FSU more free throws to ice the game.

“Those two possessions didn’t lose us the game,” Keatts said. “I don’t know how we ended up holding a guy on the free-throw line when we got him to miss but it was called. And so unfortunately, we don’t even get a chance at the end to even try to win the game or try to tie the game up.”

Smith hit a buzzer-beating 3 to make it a two-point game, but it was too little, too late. The freshman ended with 23 points, hitting some huge 3s down the stretch to help Seabron keep the team in the game.

“I’ve just got a high level of confidence and I know my teammates believe in me just like I believe in them,” Smith said.

Seabron had the second-best scoring game of his NC State career, keeping the Wolfpack in the game, especially in the second half, ending with 32 points, five rebounds and seven assists. For over eight minutes in the second half Seabron was the only member of the Pack to score.

Smith and Seabron scored all but 10 of the Wolfpack’s second-half points, with Hellems adding seven, primarily from the free-throw line.

Both teams brought out the full-court press early and often, setting the tone from the start. The Pack found a lot of success with its full-court defense, forcing a 10-second violation early in the first half and forcing FSU to use a timeout when it couldn’t get the ball in in the second.

The Seminoles took a narrow 43-41 lead into the halftime break after a fast-paced and energetic first half. Seabron helped the Pack keep it close with 16 points, five assists and four rebounds in the half, going 6 for 6 from the field in the process.

Redshirt senior guard Thomas Allen, making his first start of the season, and Smith did some damage from deep, each scoring nine on a trio of triples in the opening 20 minutes.

The loss to FSU extends the Pack’s losing streak, which dates back five games to Dec. 12. While the team has shown some fight, and flashes of good basketball, the Wolfpack just can’t seem to get over the hump.

“My team is playing incredibly hard,” Keatts said. “And the hard thing about it is, when you’ve got some young pieces and you don’t win the game, it doesn’t feel like that for those guys in the locker room, and I feel bad for those players who are playing extremely well. We’ve gotten better from three or four games ago. We’ve gotten better from November to now. We’re doing some really good stuff on the basketball floor. I thought in this game, if we could have back 10 possessions, 10 possessions where we maybe, you know, gave up a loose ball, where we maybe didn’t get back in transition, where we maybe turned the ball over and we maybe didn’t get a 50/50 basketball, I think we have a chance to win the game. …That’s what we have to get over the hump. ”

The Pack’s next opportunity to snap its streak is a road matchup with Virginia Tech on Tuesday, Jan. 4. Tip is set for 7 p.m. in Blacksburg, Virginia.

“We’ve just got to stay positive and keep putting in the work,” Seabron said. “Go back in practice and keep getting better. Work on the things we’ve been struggling at right now, like defensive rebounding and getting 50/50 balls and just need to stay positive and know that we’re gonna get over the hump.”