The play of graduate transfers Jarkel Joiner and D.J. Burns helped lift NC State past Dayton 76-64 on Thursday at the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas.
NC State advanced to the fifth-place game, where it plays the winner of Brigham Young and Butler at 10 p.m. Friday on ESPN2.
Joiner poured in 27 points — making 11 of 13 free throws — and Burns had 10 points off the bench to help spark a game-clinching 17-0 run.
“They had their run and we had ours,” said Joiner, who scored 20 of his points after halftime. “In the second half, coach [Kevin Keatts] emphasized that we had to punch them in the mouth, and that is what we did.”
NC State made its move by playing offensively through Burns, a redshirt junior center. He made a pair of post-up moves and a nifty backdoor pass to a cutting Casey Morsell and it helped the Wolfpack take a 55-39 lead with 11:05 left in the game.
Joiner, a senior point guard, had seven points during the dominating 17-0 run.
“Jarkel was aggressive and we were able to throw the ball inside to D.J. to give us a different dimension,” NC State coach Kevin Keatts said. “It was a very good win for us, and we want to continue to build on it. Excited about our opportunity tomorrow.”
Dayton (3-3 overall) became unraveled and lost its poise, with sophomore power forward Mustapha Amzil getting called for a technical foul after Morsell drew the charge against him.
Later, Dayton coach Anthony Grant was hit with a technical and the wheels had temporarily come off for the Flyers.
The Wolfpack improved to 5-1, and got a potential much-needed postseason resume victory. Keatts liked NC State’s energy in bouncing back from losing 80-74 to No. 3-ranked Kansas on Wednesday.
“Anthony has done a tremendous job with that program,” Keatts said. “They are here to stay. We knew we were going to play against a very good team. In our minds, a top 25 team that won a lot of games last year and returned pretty much all of their starters.”
NC State had the yin and yang of sophomore shooting guard Terquavion Smith making a great individual play but he also had five turnovers. The backcourt of Smith and Joiner combined for 18 points to help the Wolfpack lead 36-32 at halftime.
Smith never got untracked in the second half, going 0 for 5 with three turnovers, but the Wolfpack thrived with the offense going through Joiner and when Burns was on the court.
“Smith was special in the first half, but these two guys, older guys, put us over the hump in the second half,” Keatts said.
Dayton sophomore center DaRon Holmes II worked inside in the first half for 10 points and four rebounds, but also picked up two fouls, slowing him down. That helped Dayton outscore NC State 26-16 in points in the paint.
The Flyers also struggled shooting the ball, making 1 of 5 on three-pointers and also 1 of 5 at the free-throw line in the first half.
Dayton finished shooting just 2 of 11 from beyond the arc, and committed 18 turnovers.
“I was concerned because I knew they were capable of making shots,” Keatts said. “I thought we did a good job of defending the three-point line when we had to. They put a lot of pressure on you with paint touches.”
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