NC State battles to beat Boston College in overtime to open ACC play

NC State junior forward Mohamed Diarra had not been himself the past three games for the Pack as he battled an ankle injury during the red and white’s last home game against Charleston Southern on Nov. 17.  

When he took the floor at Boston College for NC State’s ACC opener on Saturday afternoon, Diarra was back to his old form. He snatched 18 rebounds, including a dozen in the first half, to help the Pack to a 84-78 overtime win over the Eagles at Conte Forum. 

The victory snapped NC State’s two-game losing streak and the former No. 1 junior college recruit’s big day on the glass helped the Pack out-rebound the Eagles 43-39. 

“Well, he’s back healthy,” NC State coach Kevin Keatts said on the Wolfpack postgame radio broadcast of Diarra. “He had an ankle injury that caused some problems. I thought Mo was good. … We had a team effort where I felt like everybody contributed to this win.”

While Diarra had 8 points to go with his season-high rebounds, the Wolfpack had four players in double figures — Arizona State transfer DJ Horne had 21 points, Butler transfer Jayden Taylor had 18, graduate forward DJ Burns had 17 and graduate guard Casey Morsell had 12.

The Pack made the difference at the free throw line, where NC State went 18-for-21 from the stripe, while Boston College was 14-of-26 from the charity stripe in the contest. 

NC State looked different than it did in its previous two games — a loss to BYU in Las Vegas and a 20-point defeat at Ole Miss last week — which paid off against the Eagles. 

“I am pumped,” Keatts said. “I am pumped for our team. We played a very good Boston College team on their home floor and we were sick. We talk about it all the time coming in after a loss. … I told them it was going to take everybody, a collective team to get this done. We solved two problems today — we got well, and we got an ACC road win.”

The Pack started off slow from the field, missing its first six shots, which allowed the Eagles to build an early 7-2 lead. 

But that did not last for long. 

NC State jumped out to an 11-0 run, sparked by Burns, who had three baskets around the rim, including a sky hook make. Horne knocked down a 3-pointer to cap the run, which allowed the Pack to lead 13-7. 

While the red and white went on the explosive run, NC State limited Boston College to a more than four minute drought. The Pack went on several mini runs throughout the half to keep the Eagles at arm’s length as Boston College went cold at times from the field.

The Pack allowed the Eagles to climb back into the game in the waning minutes of the first half as Boston College hit its last four field goals, and it closed on an 11-4 run to make it a 3-point game at the halftime break.

Boston College jumped out to a quick 6-0 run early in the second half to cut NC State’s lead to just two points, but Stanford transfer Michael O’Connell was able to end the Pack’s more than two-minute drought with a layup. 

The Eagles hung around with the Pack for much of the second half as the two teams traded baskets, and Boston College was able to tie the game at 66 with 1:38 to play. The teams traded decent looks at the rim in the final 30 seconds, but neither team got the shot to fall as the game went to overtime. 

Boston College pulled ahead early in overtime, but the Pack was able to claw back to pull away late in the extra period. Taylor knocked down a 3-pointer to give NC State a 2-point advantage before Horne padded the lead with a pair of free throws. 

The Pack did not look back after that stretch and it was able to hold on for its first true road win of the season. 

For Keatts, who said he is still learning his team at this point of the season with eight new faces on the roster, he found out something about his squad to open ACC play — they’re fighters. 

“We’ve got some grit,” Keatts said. “We started off hot in regulation. Boston College did a great job sending it overtime, and you find out a lot about your team when you have some adversity. I thought we answered the bell. …. We did a good job down the stretch. We just want to continue to build on this.”

NC State will have an opportunity to keep the momentum rolling as it welcomes Maryland Eastern Shore to Raleigh on Wednesday night for the team’s annual game at Reynolds Coliseum.