North Carolina State guard Maverick Rowan made two free throws with three seconds remaining to seal the 81-79 season-opening victory over visiting Georgia Southern on Friday night.

Rowan's free throws were part of a stretch in the last 13 seconds in which nine points were scored by the evenly matched teams.

After guard Dennis Smith Jr. made a three-pointer to give N.C. State a 77-71 lead with 35 seconds left, Georgia Southern guard Tookie Brown answered with a three-pointer with 23 seconds remaining.

Wolfpack guard Terry Henderson, who led N.C. State with 23 points, made two free throws with 13 seconds left to give his team a 79-74 lead. Brown, who finished with a game-high 26 points, was fouled and he made two free throws with 4 seconds remaining.

After a quick foul put Rowan on the line with three seconds left, he made both. Georgia Southern's Jake Allsmiller made a three-pointer as time expired.

Georgia Southern of the Sun Belt Conference stayed close to N.C. State throughout. The Wolfpack tried to avoid a repeat of last season, when it lost its first opener since the 1993-94 season with an 85-68 home loss to William & Mary.

The game had 10 lead changes and six ties in the game. Neither team had a lead of more than six points in the second half.

N.C. State blew 25-12 lead with 10:08 left in the first half, allowing Georgia Southern to come back and take a 36-34 lead with 1:00 left in the half on dunk by forward Shawn O'Connell.