NC State men’s basketball’s losing streak continues with tough loss at Pitt

Ben Ellis, Senior Sports Writer • February 12, 2022

Redshirt sophomore guard Dereon Seabron drives to the basket during the game versus the Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022 in PNC Arena. Seabron carried the Wolfpack with 22 points and seven rebounds. The Wolfpack lost to Wake Forest 69-51.

The NC State men’s basketball team suffered its sixth straight loss as it dropped a hard-fought game against the Pitt Panthers 71-69 on Saturday, Feb. 12 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The Wolfpack (10-16, 3-12 ACC) led by as many as seven in the first half and held a five-point lead at halftime, but the Panthers (10-16, 5-10 ACC) came out strong in the second half and held on late to get the win.

The two teams started out back and forth, with neither team able to hold more than a three-point lead until the Pack went on an 8-0 run near the end of the first half to go up 29-22 and held the Panthers without a field goal over the last seven minutes to hold a 31-26 halftime lead.

The Panthers came out of the gate strong in the second half, outsourcing the Pack 19-4 over nearly the first eight minutes to take a 45-35 lead. The Pack then responded with a 13-2 run to retake the lead 48-47, but the Panthers went on another quick 6-0 run to take the lead back 53-48 with 7:27 left.

Story continues below advertisement

The Pack would retake the lead 58-57 at the 3:48 mark after a tough and-1 layup by redshirt sophomore guard Dereon Seabron and led 60-59 before the Panthers went on a 6-0 run, holding the Pack scoreless for over two minutes to hold a 65-60 lead with under a minute left.

NC State got as close as one in the waning seconds, and with 1.3 seconds left, Seabron went to the line with the Pack down three. Seabron made the first free throw and intentionally missed the second, but the Pack was unable to get the game-tying putback as the Panthers won 71-69.

The two teams finished with almost the same field goal percentage as the Pack shot 39.7% and the Panthers shot 40%, and the Pack held a big advantage in bench points 26-4, but the difference in the game was on the glass as the Panthers held a dominant 45-25 advantage.

Seabron finished with a team-high 17 points, while redshirt senior guard Thomas Allen had a season-high 14 and senior forward Jericole Hellems had 10.

Next up, the Pack travels to take on Georgia Tech on Tuesday, Feb. 15, with tipoff scheduled for 8 p.m. on ACC Network.