On Saturday afternoon at BankUnited Center in Coral Gables, Fla., it was a tale of two halves for N.C. State. Fortunately for the Wolfpack, each involved a player carrying the team when the Pack needed it most.
State held off Miami, 56-55, to improve to 15-8 overall and 5-5 in the ACC. The loss dropped the Hurricanes to 11-12 on the season and 2-8 in league play.
Sophomore forward T.J. Warren led N.C. State with 27 points and seven rebounds on eight-for-14 shooting and nine-for-10 for the free throw line. Warren scored 19 of the Wolfpack’s 24 points during the second half.
“T.J. In the second half, I think offensively, he was spectacular,” N.C. State head coach Mark Gottfried said. “He had a will to help his team win that I thought was tremendous.”
The Wolfpack led for a majority of the game after taking a 15-12 advantage when junior guard Ralston Turner hit a three-pointer with 11:11 remaining in the first half. Turner scored 16 of his 17 points prior to intermission and connected on four of seven from behind the arc in the first 20 minutes of action.
“Ralston in the first half, he did a great job,” Gottfried said. “We found him a number of times, he made some big threes for us.”
At intermission, State led the Hurricanes 32-26. The Pack, led by Turner, connected on seven-of-12 three point attempts in the opening half, which helped it withstand the impact of losing Warren to early foul trouble.
“I thought the three-point shooting in the first half was a huge key for them,” Miami head coach Jim Larranaga said. “They came out looking for threes, they made threes. That gives your team a little bit of confidence, and it gives them a little bit of a cushion.”
Despite leading for a majority of the action and only trailing twice by two points, the Wolfpack shot just 37.8 percent for the game. Warren and Turner combined for 14 of State’s 17 field goals throughout the game.
The Hurricanes also made only 17 field goals in the contest, but took six more field goal attempts than the Wolfpack (51-45) thanks to 17 offensive rebounds–13 in the second half–and they managed to tie the game at 51 with 1:37 remaining.
N.C. State used its free throw shooting for the remainder of the game to keep Miami at bay. Turner hit the second of a pair of free throws with nine seconds remaining to give the Pack a two-point edge.
The LSU transfer then fouled Miami’s senior Raphael Akpejiori with three seconds remaining. The forward from Nigeria made the first attempt, but missed his second free throw, which would have tied the game.
Freshman forward Kyle Washington caught the rebound and was then fouled with 1.8 seconds to go. Washington failed to connect on the first and then intentionally the second, but Miami’s last-ditch heave from beyond midcourt fell short and the Wolfpack secured its second ACC road win of the season.
“It was an important win for us, very important,” Gottfried said. “I am very proud of my team. I thought it was a gutsy, tough win.”
N.C. State will get a short respite before returning to action at home against Wake Forest on Tuesday in PNC Arena. Tip is set for 7:00 p.m.
