NC State rides hot hand but comes up just short
WINSTON-SALEM — Everything about the first 36 minutes of NC State at Wake Forest on Saturday felt like the game would come to a key play or two, and it did.
Wake Forest senior power forward Andrew Carr made the big basket with 18.1 seconds left, and NC State’s senior guard D.J. Horne ended up having to shoot over a near 7-footer, and his mid-range jumper came up short.
The margin for error wasn’t much for NC State, who fell 83-79 at Lawrence Joel Veteran’s Memorial Stadium. The Wolfpack fell to 15-9 overall and 7-6 in the ACC, and the Demon Deacons improved to 16-7 and 8-4 in the league.
Horne and Wake Forest junior shooting guard Hunter Sallis had an old-fashioned shootout, and even that proved close. Sallis had 33 points, and Horne had 31, with the two often going basket-for-basket down the stretch to keep each other’s team within striking distance.
Horne simply said you have to know “as a scorer, game recognizes game.”
“Plenty of times down the court, he was like, ‘Hey man, you are putting on a show,’” Horne said. “I was giving it right back to him. He’s a good player and that is what good players go out and do.”
One of those instances that stuck in NCSU coach Kevin Keatts’ mind following the game was when Sallis caught an alley-oop pass to give the Demon Deacons a 77-75 lead with 2:55 left. Then Horne shook free for a 12-footer to tie it, only to have Sallis make a layup to make it 79-77 with 2:23 left.
“Every time we needed a basket to answer a run, he was the guy that stepped up and made some big shots for us,” Keatts said. “We did some really good things. The game went back-and-forth.”
That set up the exciting finish, aided in part when WFU junior point guard Kevin Miller missed two front ends of one-and-one’s, with the second one with 1:47 left.
WFU junior center Efton Reid’s help defense on Horne at the end was complemented by him being enough of a presence to prevent NC State senior center D.J. Burns from scoring with the game tied 79-79.
The drama whipped the crowd of 12,751 into a frenzy and the Wake Forest was proud that the program get play some spirited Tobacco Road rivalry games once again. WFU plays at Duke on Monday.
"This is how it is supposed to be," WFU coach Steve Forbes said. "This is what we envisioned when we came here at Wake Forest."
Another aspect that helped Wake Forest in the last 18 seconds was having two fouls to use, though the Demon Deacons elected to just use one of them.
“I knew it was going to be a tough look and I knew that they were probably going to double-team me,” Horne said. “I just tried to get to my shot as quick as possible.”
The track meet was set in motion during the first half and the fouls started to pile up for the Wolfpack, but not to the point where the rotation was affected.
NC State played fast and loose behind Horne, who was feeling it from the start — 19 of his 31 points came in the first half. The Wolfpack ended up shooting 52.9 percent from the field with nine assists in building a 45-39 lead at halftime. NCSU’s 13-2 fastbreak advantage showed the commitment to the running game.
Wake Forest would have been in trouble if not for the stellar play of junior guard Sallis, who had 18 points of his 33 in the first half. Sallis, who battled foul trouble in the first meeting between the two teams, drained all three three-point attempts to get untracked in round two.
Forbes pointed out the play of NC State junior power forward Mohamed Diarra, who had 13 points and 12 rebounds, provided a spark off the bench.
"They sped us up, turned us over and got out in transition and got a lead," Forbes said. "I thought the whole second half wasn't about X's and O's, but about being competitive. Just having some fight.
"We made enough plays to win it. It wasn't anything fancy."
NC State has a rare week off and play at 16-7 Clemson at 7:45 p.m. Feb. 17 on the CW Network. The Tigers are 8-3 at home this season, and won at Syracuse 77-68 on Saturday.
Keatts half-joked that Wake Forest might end up moving up to Quad I after Saturday, which will give NC State a coveted Quad I victory from the previous win in Raleigh. He wouldn’t be surprised if there ends up a “round three” at the ACC Tournament between the historic rivals.
“We have plenty more opportunities in front of us,” said Keatts, who will give the players Sunday and Monday off to regroup.
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