BYU shot lights out from beyond the arc in overcoming attrition on the interior to defeat NC State 95-86 on Friday in the Las Vegas Showdown.
NC State coach Kevin Keatts was ejected with 1:04 left in the game, which followed the ejection of junior guard Jayden Taylor. Additionally, reserve center Ben Middlebrooks and one of the Wolfpack walk-ons were also ejected earlier in the game due to leaving the bench area after some pushing between the players occurred, resulting in double technicals.
NC State fell to 4-1 with playing at Ole Miss on Tuesday in the ACC/SEC Challenge. Brigham Young improved to 6-0 overall.
The Cougars made 9 of 15 on three-pointers in the second half, which helped lead to an astonishing 57 points to rally past NC State. Reserve small forward Jaxson Robinson, who previously played at Texas A&M and Arkansas, scored a team-high 23 points. BYU had five players in double figures with balanced scoring.
The first half was impressive for NC State in an up-and-down affair.
NC State made seven of its first eight shots and forced five turnovers to jump out to a 16-5 early lead in the first 5:01. NC State guards Casey Morsell, DJ Horne and Jayden Taylor came out sharp. They combined for 32 points in powering NC State to a 42-38 halftime lead over BYU.
BYU lived and died on the 3-point shot in the first half, and finished going 5 of 19 from beyond the arc and had nine turnovers to complement the poor outside shooting. The Cougars finished with 17 turnovers.
The shooting turned around in a big way for Brigham Young. BYU made six key three-pointers in the first 10 minutes of the second half to put the pressure on NC State to keep up.
BYU finally got over the hump when Spencer Johnson and Trey Stewart hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give BYU a 66-64 lead with 10:06 left.
Morsell and NC State center D.J. Burns typically had the answer whenever the Cougars inched closer. NC State made nine of its first 13 shots in the second half, with the four misses on three-pointers.
Morsell’s corner 3-pointer gave NC State a 69-66 lead with 8:20 left, and gave him 23 points in the game. He finished with 28 points in arguably his best game in a NCSU uniform.
BYU hit a pair of three-pointers to spark a 8-0 run and 74-69 lead with 5:57 remaining.
That run morphed into a 15-3 run over 3:25 to give BYU a 80-72 lead with 3:40 left. NC State could only muster 2 of 10 shooting during one stretch in the final minutes, and then wheels came off with the ejections..
BYU was forced to rely more on the perimeter players than normal. Starting post player Fousseyni Traore suffered a game-ending injury six minutes into the game. BYU also played without suspended backup center Atiki Ally Atiki, who punched an Arizona State player Thursday.
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