Wolfpack fans will always remember Tuesday, Jan. 16 as the “Ben Middlebrooks legacy game”. Junior forward Ben Middebrooks scored 12 clutch second-half points to lead NC State men’s basketball to a dramatic 83-76 win over Wake Forest at PNC Arena.

Middlebrooks was the spark the Pack (13-4, 5-1 ACC) needed coming out of the locker down 10 points. Wake Forest (12-5, 4-2 ACC) had no answer for the Clemson transfer — he did not miss a shot in the second half and hit all four of his free throws, all of which came when the red-and-white was trailing with under four minutes left in the game. 

The play of the night came when Middlebrooks backed down his defender and muscled in an and-1 to put NC State up 75-72 with 46 seconds left. Middlebrooks let out a big scream after the shot and bumped Wake Forest guard Hunter Sallis, which led to an altercation between the two. Sallis and junior forward Mohamed Diarra were both ejected after Diarra bumped heads with Sallis to back up his teammate. The emotion shown by Middlebrooks ignited PNC Arena and even surprised his teammates.

“[Middlebrooks and Diarra] are both quiet guys; … even though it was a technical and an ejection, that’s what we need, that grit, that toughness,” said graduate guard Casey Morsell. “It helped us win the game.”

Not only did Middlebrooks knock down clutch shots down the stretch, but he strapped in on defense, stealing the ball from Wake Forest forward Andrew Carr late in the game and drawing a foul. The big man calmly walked to the line and cashed in both free throws to tie the game at 69 points apiece.

Behind Middlebrooks’ impressive second-half showing, the Pack outscored the Demon Deacons 48-31 in the frame, a performance that was most likely sparked by the ejection of head coach Kevin Keatts late in the first half. Keatts stormed onto the court after a no-call on a physical drive to the basket by freshman guard Dennis Parker Jr. and was quickly hit with two technicals for arguing with the referees. 

While NC State didn’t take its first lead of the second half until just over two minutes remained, there was no doubt every player on the team was playing with extra motivation to win for their head coach.

“It gave us a spark,” Morsell said. “It gave us a lot of momentum heading into halftime. … [Assistant coach Kareem Richardson] gave a phenomenal halftime speech that kind of got us going in the second half.”

Free throw drills must’ve been part of the Wolfpack’s halftime routine because it did a complete 180 in the second half, knocking down 20 of its 22 attempts from the line after going five for 11 in the first half. The Pack used the free throw line to climb back into the game and eventually took the lead when Morsell hit two from the charity stripe to give NC State a 71-69 advantage that it didn’t give up for the remainder of the contest.

What makes this comeback win over Wake Forest even more impressive is the fact that the Pack scored 83 points and won the game without making a single 3-point shot. The red-and-white did not settle for outside shots and instead drove to the rim, ultimately recording 50 points in the paint. 

NC State continuously challenged the Demon Deacons with its physical style of play, especially on the defensive end. After allowing 45 points in the first half, the Pack held the Deacons to 31 points in the last 20 minutes on just 33.3% shooting from the field.

“I’m telling you now, we ain’t going to get pushed around; it’s just not going to happen,” Keatts said. “We wanted to show everybody we’ve worked our ass off.”

A spirited and dominant second half earned the Pack its fifth ACC win of the year, marking the team’s best start to conference play since the 1988-89 season. For the time being, NC State holds sole possession of second place in the ACC and can’t fall any further down the standings before its next game.

“I think all of these guys deserve the credit because we’re doing some things that haven’t happened in a long time,” Keatts said. “Our area has really good basketball, and I’m talking about Duke, Carolina and Wake, and I told our team we’re the least talked about out of everybody. But when you pull up the stats, we got the same record as everybody.”

Up next, NC State will return to PNC Arena to take on Virginia Tech on Saturday, Jan. 20. Tip-off is set for noon, and the game can be found on The CW network.