State’s second meeting with the Virginia Tech Hokies in the first round of the ACC Tournament wasn’t a thriller like their regular season bout that went into overtime. The Wolfpack took care of business on the back of senior forward Richard Howell’s double-double and defeated the Hokies, 80-63.

Howell had 22 points and 12 rebounds in the contest.

State scored half of its points in the paint.

The Pack held Virginia Tech’s senior guard Eddie Green, the nation’s leading scorer, to 15 points. He went 5-for-19 from the field.

The game did start off as a close contest, as the two sides exchanged the lead 10 times in the first half.

The turning point for State came with more than seven minutes on the clock in the first half. After a timeout the Wolfpack came out of it in a full court zone press that disrupted the Hokies rhythm offensively.

The press, along with Green sitting on the bench, helped State propel itself to a 10-3 run out of that timeout

State went into the locker room with a 38-32 lead at the half.

The Wolfpack pushed the tempo out of the break and went on a 9-0 run. The lead was pushed to 15 by the 12-minute mark of the half.

State was able to hold the Hokies to a 35.3 percent field goal percentage from the field in the second half and shot a blistering 52 percent.

The half also became a highlight reel for the Wolfpack, which included a big block from junior forward Calvin Leslie on Hokie forward Joey van Zegern. Leslie finished the game with 15 points and seven rebounds.

N.C. State will move on to a contest with the Virginia Cavaliers tomorrow at 2 p.m.

In their last meeting, which junior guard Lorenzo Brown played limited minutes, the ‘Hoos took down the Wolfpack, 58-55, in Charlottesville, Va.