Wolfpack Falters Late to Fall to Miami

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The NC State men’s basketball team led for over 30 minutes on Saturday afternoon, but Miami outscored the Pack 18-6 to end the game to winning going away, 80-73.

Jarkel Joiner led NC State with 26 points while Terquavion Smith added 19 points and team-best seven assists. DJ Burns chipped in 16 points and a team-high eight rebounds.

With the loss NC State falls to 8-3 on the season, 0-2 in the ACC. Miami improves to 10-1, 2-0 in the ACC.

A 12-2 run early in the first half, highlighted by three three-pointers from Smith gave NC State an early 19-9 lead. The Pack extended the lead to 31-15 on a driving Joiner lay-up with 8:07 remaining in the first period.

The Canes battled back to cut the Pack’s lead to 43-34 at halftime and opened the second half by hitting consecutive three-pointers to cut NC State’s lead to three, 43-40, in the opening minute of the final period.

NC State responded with a 12-3 run to push the lead back to 12, 55-43, with 14:08 remaining. Joiner scored 10 of the Pack’s 12 points during the run.

The Hurricanes answered the Pack’s run with a 10-0 run of its own to cut the Pack’s lead to two with 11:27 left.

NC State would push the lead back to five, 67-62, on a three-pointer by Joiner with 7:18 to play but the Pack would only make two field goals the rest of the game as Miami closed the contest on an 18-6 run.

NC State closed the game making just two of its final 13 field goal attempts as it shot 45.3 percent for the game.

Miami was led by Jordan Miller with 25 points and Isaiah Wong added 22.

Miami shot 45.5 percent for the game, but shot 57.1 percent in the second half as they outscored the Pack 46-30 in the final 20 minutes.

The Pack returns to action Tuesday evening when it hosts Furman its final home non-conference game of the season. Tipoff at PNC Arena  is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and the game will be televised on the ACC Network.