NC State Men’s Basketball Downs Rival Wake Forest At Home

RALEIGH, N.C. – The NC State men’s basketball team hit a season-high 13 three-pointers as the Pack took down Wake Forest, 85-73, Saturday afternoon inside the Lenovo Center.

The Pack’s 85 points are the most against an ACC opponent this season and the most for NC State since it scored 89 in a win over Rider on Dec. 22.

Freshman Paul McNeil Jr. made the first start of his career and delivered the best performance of his young career as he finished with a career-best 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting, including 4-of-7 from three-point range.

Michael O’Connell passed out a career-best 13 assists and added nine points. O’Connell’s 13 assists are the most for an NC State player since Markell Johnson had 14 against Miami on Jan. 21, 2018.

Dontrez Styles nearly had a double-double in the first half as he scored 15 points and pulled down eight rebounds in the opening 20 minutes. The Kinston, N.C., native finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season.

NC State only trailed for five minutes of game time, but an 11-2 Wake Forest run gave the Demon Deacons a 61-56 lead with 8:23 to play.

The Pack responded with back-to-back-to-back three-pointers as O’Connell, Jayden Taylor and then McNeil all drained triples to put NC State back in front for good.

The 9-0 spurt quickly morphed into an 18-2 run as Styles scored seven of the Pack’s next nine points to put NC State in front 74-63 with 3:36 to go.

Wake Forest cut the deficit to seven, 76-69, with 1:38 to go, but O’Connell found McNeil in the corner for a three-pointer as the shot clock neared zero, and Wake Forest would not get closer than eight points the rest of the way.

McNeil sparked the Pack early as he scored the game’s first five points, helping NC State jump out to an 11-0 lead.

Wake Forest battled back to lead by one three times in the opening 20 minutes, but NC State had a response every time, including going on a 14-6 run to turn a 24-23 deficit into a 37-30 lead with 1:30 left in the first period. After the Demon Deacons closed within three, Marcus Hill drained a three-pointer ahead of the halftime buzzer to give the Pack a 40-34 halftime advantage.

Wake Forest had four players reach double figures led by Cameron Hildreth with 16 points.

NC State is back in action Wednesday night when it plays at Syracuse. Tipoff against the Orange is 7 p.m.