North Carolina State 68, USF 65: Trevor Lacey led the way with 21 points and seven rebounds as the Wolfpack held off the visiting Bulls to remain undefeated.
Anthony Barber scored 10 points, Ralston Turner added nine and BeeJay Anya collected nine rebounds and five blocks for North Carolina State (4-0), which failed to reach 75 points for the first time this season. Lacey and Desmond Lee each split a pair of free throws in the final nine seconds and sweated out a half-court heave that glanced off the rim at the buzzer.
Star Chris Perry was held to 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting as the Bulls (3-1) had a late comeback fall short. Corey Allen Jr. scored 14 points and Nehemias Morillo contributed 11 points and seven rebounds off the bench for USF, which used an 11-3 run to draw within one possession in the final minute.
Turner, who had a streak of 20 straight games with at least one 3-pointer come to an end in the last game, went 0-of-5 from beyond the arc in the first half but was picked up by Lacey. N.C. State jumped out to a 9-1 lead and held off every charge as Lacey poured in nine points in the final 5:05 of the half to send the Wolfpack into the break ahead 33-29.
Turner finally connected from beyond the arc just over three minutes into the second half to extend the N.C. State lead to 10 points. USF crawled within 59-52 on Perry’s free throw but Anya hit a pair from the foul line and got free for a dunk as N.C. State pushed it back to double figures and held off the Bulls.
GAME NOTEBOOK: USF G Troy Holston Jr. rolled his left ankle with 42 seconds left in the first half and had to be helped off the court. … The Wolfpack are off to their first 4-0 start since 2009-10. … Anya, who set a school record with 10 blocks in the last game, has 19 on the season.
South Florida | N.C. State | |
Corey Allen Jr. 14 | Scoring | Trevor Lacey 21 |
Anthony Collins 8 | Assists | Trevor Lacey 4 |
Nehemias Morillo 7 | Rebounds | Lennard Freeman 10 |
Corey Allen Jr. 2 | Free Throws Made | Trevor Lacey 8 |
Corey Allen Jr. 1 | Steals | Anthony Barber 2 |
Anthony Collins 1 | Blocks | Beejay Anya 5 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
South Florida | 65 | 47.3 | 4-13 | 9-13 | 11 | 30 | 3 | 4 | 10 |
N.C. State | 68 | 37.3 | 4-17 | 20-30 | 9 | 38 | 5 | 3 | 8 |