NC State basketball rallies for big road win at Wake Forest, 79-77
NC State basketball coach Kevin Keatts implored his Wolfpack squad throughout the game to hang around. The shots were not falling at Wake Forest, but the Demon Deacons were not pulling away.
Hang around NC State did, and then fifth-year senior post player D.J. Burns Jr. went to work, rallying the Wolfpack from what was at one point a 10-point deficit to a 79-77 road win that could prove to be a valuable Quad 1 victory.
With Wake Forest leading 50-41 and Burns shooting 5 of 15 from the field to that pivotal moment, the big man started to dominate in a performance that will be well-remembered. He made seven of NC State’s next eight field goals to help close the deficit to 62-57. Then super senior guard Jarkel Joiner made two straight shots, the second of which a 3-pointer to cut tie the score.
After Burns’ rolling hook put the Wolfpack up for the first time since the score was 16-15 at 64-62 with 5:02 to go, Wake Forest decided to finally try a double-team.
Didn’t work.
Burns showed off his passing ability by finding a wide open freshman guard LJ Thomas in the corner for a 3-pointer to put NC State back up 67-64 after the Deacons briefly had tied the score.
Senior guard Casey Morsell made a significant three from the corner to make it a two-possession game at 70-66. Wake Forest didn’t quit and tied the score at 73-73. Demon Deacons third-year head coach Steve Forbes decided he was going to foul Burns, who had been 1 of 6 at the line to that point, rather than let him get another lay-up.
Burns though made end of a 1 and 1 both to put NC State back up at 75-73 with 1:22 remaining.
Then a big free throw miss from Wake Forest super senior guard Tyree Appleby on the second of two attempts set the stage for sophomore guard Terquavion Smith’s late heroics. With the shot clock expiring, Smith made a running shot high off the glass from the left block of the lane that rolled in with 38.5 seconds left.
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Wake Forest missed a pair of three-point attempts on the next possession. Joiner than sanked a pair of free throw s in a one-and-one with 11.4 seconds to go to ice the contest.
Burns’ monster performance included career-high 31 points after he made 9 of 11 shots attempts down the stretch to finish shooting 14 of 26 from the field. He also added 9 rebounds.
Joiner had 17 points, while Smith had 16 despite only playing 21 minutes due to foul trouble.
NC State shot 13 of 39 from the field in the first half but was 19 of 30 in the second to score 48 points after halftime.
The Pack improved to 17-5 overall and 7-4 in the ACC with the victory, while Wake Forest falls to 14-8 and 6-5. Next up for NC State basketball is hosting Wake Forest Wednesday evening for a late 9 p.m. tipoff on ACC Network.
