Quick hits from NC State's win at Wake Forest

Quick hits and notes from NC State Wolfpack basketball’s 80-62 win at Wake Forest inside Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Saturday afternoon.

You knew that it was going to be NC State's afternoon when junior forward Jericole Hellems banked in a three-pointer from the left wing with 8:43 left in the first half to give the Wolfpack a 27-18 lead.

That was part of a decisive 21-4 run that eventually gave NC State a 33-18 advantage with 7:04 remaining.

Redshirt freshman wing Dereon Seabron has put together back-to-back strong performances on the road, and he played the best game of his young college career on Saturday afternoon.

He tied for a game-high with a career-high 34 minutes on the court, and Seabron finished with 14 points, nine rebounds, four steals, three assists and a block while seemingly being everywhere on the court. It is the first time in Seabron's career he reached double digits in scoring while also setting, by two boards, a new personal-best in rebounding.

He matched his career-high in assists and doubled his previous most steals in a contest.

In the win at Pittsburgh on Wednesday, Seabron played 30 minutes and had eight points and two rebounds.

NC State's contributions came from more than just Seabron, as they were a bucket away from freshman guard Shakeel Moore and a missed free throw away by redshirt sophomore center Manny Bates from having all seven of its regulars reach double digits.

(Redshirt junior guard Thomas Allen did not play for the second straight contest with an ankle injury.)

• Hellems matched Seabron for most points on NC State with 14. It is the 10th straight game that Hellems has scored in double digits.

• For the second straight contest, freshman guard Cam Hayes reached 11 points and he added five assists and three steals in 30 minutes. Hayes made 3 of 5 three-pointers, matching his personal best for most made in a contest.

• Fifth-year senior forward DJ Funderburk had 11 points and seven rebounds, the latter total one off his season-high. Funderburk has scored in double digits in five straight contests.

• For the second straight game off the bench, senior guard Braxton Beverly scored in double figures, getting 10 points on 3-of-6 shooting, including 2 of 5 threes. He also added three assists.

• Moore finished with eight points and added three steals in just 16 minutes.

• Bates only played 18 minutes, as he and Moore both had first half foul issues, and finished with nine points and three blocked shots.

When Seabron made a pair of free throws with 4:33 left in the first half, NC State had a double-digit lead at 37-27 that would never reach under 10 points again the rest of the contest. The Wolfpack also led by at least 16 points for the final 12:30 of the game.

It was a somewhat similar story the first time these two teams met, Jan. 27 in Raleigh.

NC State then used a 14-2 first-half run to take a 28-17 lead and led 32-21 at the break. That lead would eventually stretch out to 18 points, never falling into single digits in between, with 11 minutes left before Wake Forest went on a run, during which fifth-year senior guard Devon Daniels tore his ACL.

Still, WFU did not cut that lead into single digits in what was a five-point, 72-67 Wolfpack win until 4:02 was left in the contest.

This is the first time that NC State has won three straight ACC games on the road in the same season since the 2001-02 Wolfpack squad did it. That team went 23-11 overall and broke NC State's lengthy NCAA Tournament drought by making it to the second round of the Big Dance before losing a thriller to second-seeded Connecticut.

The star of that squad was the late Anthony Grundy and a promising freshman named Julius Hodge.

The 2002-03 squad won its final two ACC road games before the following season NC State won its conference road opener, which is technically the last time the Wolfpack had won three straight league away contests.

Four previous times under head coach Kevin Keatts the Wolfpack had won two straight on the road but failed in an attempt for a third consecutive victory.

Here we keep track of the scoring between each official timeout to help give an idea of the game flow:

First half

20:00-15:25: Wake Forest 7, NC State 6

15:25-11:59: NC State 8, Wake Forest 7

11:59-7:46: NC State 15, Wake Forest 4

7:46-3:18: NC State 14, Wake Forest 14

3:18-Halftime: NC State 8, Wake Forest 3

Second half

20:00-15:43: NC State 9, Wake Forest 6

15:43-11:36: Wake Forest 7, NC State 4

11:36-7:26: NC State 6, Wake Forest 3

7:26-3:57: NC State 5, Wake Forest 2

3:57-Final: Wake Forest 9, NC State 5

NC State improves to 10-9 overall and 6-8 in the ACC while Wake Forest is 6-11 and 3-11. The Wolfpack is now 4-5 on the road (3-5 in true road contests) and 6-3 in day games (tipoff before 6 p.m.). NC State is 3-4 in weekend contests.

The Wolfpack leads the all-time series with the Deacons, 148-106, but improves to just 8-23 at the LJVM Coliseum. Keatts is 7-1, though, against Wake Forest, and he is 3-1 in Winston-Salem.

This game was televised on RSN. Throughout the year we will keep track of the Pack's record on the different channels:

• ESPNU: 1-0

• ACC Network: 7-5

• ESPN: 1-1

• RSN: 2-2

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

• November: 2-0

• December: 4-1

• January: 1-5

• February: 3-3

• NC State won the points in the paint, 34-22.

• The Wolfpack crushed the Deacons in fast-break points, 19-1.

• Wake Forest's bench outscored NC State's reserves, 24-21.

• The Wolfpack won the turnover margin 19-11, and NC State had a crushing 28-5 edge in points off them.

• The Pack won on the boards, 33-32 overall, while both teams had 11 on the offensive glass. NC State had a slight 10-9 advantage in second-chance points.

• Defensively, NC State had five blocks and 11 steals. Wake Forest had three blocks and added seven steals.

• NC State's largest advantage was 25 points and it led for 32:05. Wake Forest's biggest lead was just three points, and it was up for only 4:29.

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