The NC State men’s basketball team won its opening game of the National Invitation Tournament, defeating Hofstra 84-78 in front of a sold-out, raucous Reynolds Coliseum Tuesday night.
“Our fanbase is incredible,” said head coach Kevin Keatts. “Without them, I don’t think we’d get the win; this is an electric building.”
The second-seeded Wolfpack (23-11, 9-9 ACC) exploded out of the gates in the second half to ice away a pesky seventh-seeded Pride (27-8, 15-3 CAA) team that was just one game away from earning an auto-bid in the NCAA Tournament.
Playing against his old Colonial Athletic Association rival, redshirt junior guard C.J. Bryce got the Pack rolling early, getting two layups and a corner 3-pointer to fall for seven of its first 13 points as NC State took an early 13-9 lead.
After trading buckets for most of the half, a 3-pointer by guard Jalen Ray kickstarted an 11-2 run for the Pride to take a 42-35 lead with one minute remaining. The Wolfpack responded with back-to-back layups by redshirt senior guard Torin Dorn and sophomore guard Braxton Beverly to pull within four points and entered halftime trailing 42-39.
NC State struggled all half to defend Hofstra guard Justin Wright-Foreman (29 points, six rebounds, five assists), who torched the Pack for 17 points in the period. Wright-Foreman, the NCAA’s second-leading scorer, got to the free throw line at will, knocking down all six of his attempts.
“[Wright-Foreman] is tremendous,” Keatts said. “What makes him really good is he doesn’t miss his free throws. He draws a lot of fouls and he gets to the free-throw line.”
Junior guard Markell Johnson started the Pack off hot in the second half, hitting a 3-pointer and slamming down a fastbreak dunk to give the lead back to the Pack. Bryce followed up Johnson’s dunk with put-back layups on the Wolfpack’s next two possessions, drawing a foul on the second basket and converting the and-one free throw to take a 49-46 lead.
After a 3-pointer by Hofstra guard Tareq Coburn gave the Pride a 53-51 lead, Bryce corralled another offensive rebound and got a put-back layup to fall, and the Pack was off and running. Bryce’s layup kickstarted an 8-0 Wolfpack run to take a 60-53 lead that it never surrendered.
Hofstra answered right back, cutting the Pack’s lead to two, but Johnson nailed a 3-pointer with a hand in his face and Beverly willed a circus-shot layup into the basket to push NC State’s lead back up to seven with under nine minutes to play.
An 8-2 burst from Hofstra cut NC State’s lead to just two with under a minute remaining in the game, but Johnson drove to the basket and drew a foul call on a made layup, and his free throw with 19 seconds to go put the Pack up 83-78 and iced the game.
“I was just taking whatever the defense gave me,” Johnson said. “I just wanted to get the ball moving and get to the rack.”
Johnson finished with 26 points, seven rebounds and five assists, living up to his “second-half Markell” nickname with 20 points in the second half as he put the team on his back and carried it to a win.
“Markell was feeling it tonight,” Keatts said. “He made some great plays down the stretch, and when you’ve got a veteran point guard, sometimes as a coach the smartest play you can [call] is just get out of the way and let him play.”
Bryce had one of his best all-around games of the season, racking up a double-double on 18 points and 11 boards, leading both teams in rebounds. Dorn fell just shy of a double-double of his own, chipping in 19 points and nine rebounds on 9-of-17 shooting.
After missing out on an NCAA Tournament selection, the Pack didn’t suffer from any disappointment hangover, playing hard and fast from start to finish.
“I thought our guys did a tremendous job responding,” Keatts said. “They gave me honest, hard work in practice, and it paid off. Our focus has completely changed; we’re playing for a championship.”
NC State will return to action in the second round of the NIT on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. against the winner of No. 3 Georgetown and No. 6 Harvard.
Junior guard Markell Johnson makes a fast break to the net during the NIT in Reynolds Coliseum on Tuesday March 19. Johnson shot 9-16 from the field and contributed a team-high 26 points to the 84-78 win over Hofstra.
