12/15/2018 basketball Edit

Quick hits from NC State's 89-78 win over PSU

Jacey Zembal • TheWolfpackCentral

Writer

Quick hits and notes from NC State’s 89-78 win over Penn State on Saturday as part of the Boardwalk Classic in Atlantic City, N.J.

Play of the game

One of the biggest plays wasn’t a basket, but instead a key “turnover.” Penn State leading scorer Lamar Stevens drove right and the power forward used his off arm to clear space. NC State freshman 6-7 forward Jericole Hellems sold the charge well by flying to the ground.

That was the fourth foul on Stevens with 15:37 left in the game, and NC State led 51-46. Stevens never fouled in his 22 minutes played, but he also didn’t score a point after picking up his fourth foul, finishing the game with 11 points. Hellems didn’t score in 16 minutes, but his savvy defense helped change the momentum of the game.

Highlight of the game

Junior point guard Markell Johnson came off the bench and he had a nifty dribble drive and then lobbed it up to fifth-year senior wing Torin Dorn for the dunk early in the contest.

Player of the game

Sophomore combo guard Braxton Beverly got the start at point guard, and he responded with his best offensive performance of the young season. He had 18 points on 7 of 10 shooting, including 3 of 4 on three-pointers. He added five assists and had just one turnover in 31 minutes of action.

Centers combine efforts

For a brief stretch in the second half it looked dicey at the center position with both redshirt junior Wyatt Walker and redshirt sophomore DJ Funderburk both saddled with four fouls apiece. Walker had a great first half and Funderburk came through with arguably the biggest stretch of the game.

NC State clinged to a 59-58 lead with 10:55 left in the game. He got an offensive rebound on a missed free throw and made a layup, then eventually made a three-pointer and finished the burst with a layup to push the lead to 68-62 with 7:51 left in the game.

Funderburk finished with 12 points in 13 minutes played before fouling out, and Walker added nine points and eight rebounds in 25 minutes. Getting 21 points out of the center position is something the Wolfpack would take any game.

Turnover-filled start for the Wolfpack

NC State hadn’t played since Dec. 6 against Western Carolina and came out a little rusty, which isn’t unusual. The Wolfpack had 10 first-half turnovers, some of which were unforced.

NC State settled down some in the second half and ended up with 17 turnovers. The previous high for turnovers this season was 15 against UNC Asheville on Nov. 13.

Scoring between official timeouts

This year we have kept track of the scoring between each official timeout to help give an idea of the game flow:

First half

20:00-15:59: Penn State 9, NC State 5

15:59-12:00: NC State 13, Penn State 5

12:00-7:57: NC State 4, Penn State 4

7:57-4:48: NC State 10, Penn State 10

4:48-Halftime: Penn State 9, NC State 8

Second half

20:00-15:37: Penn State 9, NC State 8

15:37-11:47: NC State 10, Penn State 10

11:47-7:35: NC State 10, Penn State 8

7:35-4:17: NC State 11, Penn State 2

4:17 -Final: Penn State 14, NC State 10

Plus/minus

Here is the plus/minus for each player, with eight logging at least 13 minutes.

• Johnson +20 (22)

• Funderburk +17 (13 minutes played)

• Dorn +10 (25)

• Beverly +8 (31)

• Redshirt junior wing C.J. Bryce +6 (30)

• Hellems +5 (16)

• Redshirt sophomore wing Devon Daniels +2 (22)

• Sophomore point guard Blake Harris +1 (8)

• Fifth-year senior wing Eric Lockett -1 (8)

• Walker -3 (25)

What the win means

The Pack is 9-1 overall on the season and defeated Penn State for the second straight year. The Wolfpack topped the Nittany Lions 85-78 on Nov. 29, 2017, in Raleigh as part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. The game also helped NC State shake off some rust going into Wednesday’s big showdown against Auburn.

The game was broadcast on ESPNU, which was the first time NC State played on the network this season. During the season, we’ll keep track of how NC State does on the various networks.

- ACC Network Extra: 5-0

- RSN: 2-0

- ESPN2: 1-1

- ESPNU 1-0

We will also track NC State’s records by month:

- November: 6-1

- December: 3-0

- January: 0-0

- February: 0-0

- March: 0-0

Other stats of note

• NC State won the battle in the paint, outscoring PSU 46-34.

• Penn State won the turnover battle with 14, while NC State had a season-high 17.

• The fastbreak opportunities were few and far between, with Penn State winning 8-4.

• Defensively, NC State had one block and six steals. PSU had two blocks (both by wing Josh Reaves) and nine steals, and center Mike Watkins, a gifted shot-blocker, was neutralized.

• The Wolfpack won the battle of the boards 40-29, but the Nittany Lions held a 9-5 edge on offensive rebounds. The two teams tied 7-7 on second-chance points.

• The Pack bench had a notable disparity in talent, and crushed the Nittany Lions 29-13.