CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – The NC State men’s basketball team broke open the game with a 19-2 run in the first half and never looked back in defeating Boston College, 73-47, Saturday afternoon at the Conte Forum.
With the win, NC State improves to 21-10, 9-9 in the ACC, and will be the No. 8 seed in next week’s ACC Tournament. The Pack will face No. 9 seed Clemson Wednesday at noon.
Boston College led 13-12, 8 minutes into the game, but the Pack responded with a 19-2 run to effectively put the game away. Boston College would never get closer than 14 points the rest of the game.
Jericole Hellems started the run with a three-pointer. Wyatt Walker extended the run with a short jumper off a feed from CJ Bryce and Bryce made a jump shot on the next possession to forced Boston College into calling a timeout with the score 19-13 in favor of NC State.
Out of the timeout, Walker scored on a putback and Braxton Beverly nailed a three-pointer to push the run to 12-0 and give the Pack a 24-13 advantage. The Eagles slowed the run with a basket, but Bryce scored the next five points of the game and Torin Dorn added another second chance bucket to push the lead to 31-15 with 5:16 to go.
The Pack pushed the lead out to 20 in the opening half and eventually went into the locker room with a 41-24 advantage.
Boston College could never get closer than 15 points in the second half as the Pack extended its lead to as large as 28 points.
NC State finished the game holding BC to just 26.7 percent shooting. It’s the lowest opponent field goal percentage in the Kevin Keatts era.
The 26-point win is also the largest victory margin for NC State in an ACC road game since beating Wake Forest, 76-40, on Jan. 14, 2012.
All nine NC State players scored. Bryce finished with a team-high 14 points, while Dorn added 12 points and eight rebounds. Devon Daniels chipped in 10 points. DJ Funderburk finished with a team-best nine rebounds.
Johnson finished with six points and six assists. He now has 377 for his career and has moved into 10th place on the NC State career assist list.
NC State dominated the boards as the Pack finished the game with a 56-36 advantage in rebounding.
