The No. 17 NC State men’s basketball team bounced back after its loss to Wake Forest with a 77-73 win over Notre Dame at Joyce Center in South Bend, Indiana. While the Fighting Irish’s final lead of the game came just six minutes into the first half, NC State never lead by more than eight.

Redshirt junior guard C.J. Bryce led the Wolfpack in scoring on the night with 23 points, just five short of his career high. Redshirt sophomore guard Devon Daniels was also a high impact player on the night, energizing his team with a couple of big blocks which helped shift the momentum during a few different Wolfpack shooting slumps.

The Wolfpack started slow but jumped ahead just after the first media timeout. For the majority of the rest of the first half the Wolfpack lead by a slim margin. Bryce scored the basket which gave the Wolfpack its first lead and went on to score a game-high 12 first half points.

The Fighting Irish ended the half on a strong run, cutting the Wolfpack lead to just 37-35 after NC State led by as much as eight with just three minutes left in the half.

NC State began to build on its quick start to the second half with Daniels blocking a shot on the defensive end and sophomore guard Braxton Beverly hit a 3 in transition to push the Wolfpack lead to six early in the second half.

Following a three-minute period of not scoring the Wolfpack rallied behind another Daniels block to stay in the driver’s seat. While the lead during this period wasn’t large the Wolfpack hadn’t trailed in the game since the score was 12-10 in favor of the Fighting Irish.

Despite the fact that the Wolfpack hadn’t trailed since the six minute mark the game was still in doubt until the final whistle. The Fighting Irish scored with just over 12 seconds left to make it a two-point game.

Following the Fighting Irish basket Daniels hit both of his free throws following an intentional foul to put the game to bed.

The Wolfpack will be back in action on Thursday as it travels to Kentucky to take on Louisville.