The NC State men's basketball team (13-5, 5-2) fell to Virginia Tech (11-7, 3-4) at PNC Arena on Saturday afternoon, with the Hokies using a late 19-4 run to claim a 84-78 victory over the Wolfpack.
Despite forcing 20 Virginia Tech turnovers while gathering a team-high 13 steals on the day, the Pack in turn had a season-high 18 turnovers that led to 22 Hokie points.
Virginia Tech scored 51 second half points and made its final nine field goals of the game to pull away from the Pack as the Hokies shot 62.5 percent from the field in the second half.
Casey Morsell led the way for the Wolfpack offensively with 19 points.
DJ Horne and
Jayden Taylor each finished in double figures as well with 16 and 15 points.
Mohamed Diarra contributed a game-high eight rebounds while the Pack's offensive effort was aided by a team-best five assists from
Michael O'Connell.
The Pack led 54-51 with under eight minutes to play, but that would be the last advantage of the day for NC State as Virginia Tech went on a 19-4 run over the next four minutes to take a 70-58 lead.
Sean Pedulla and Hunter Cantoor combined to score 15 of Tech's 19 points during the run.
NC State made a late push, getting within five, 77-72, with 59 seconds remaining, but could get no closer as Virginia Tech was able to close the game out from the foul line.
NC State finished the game with a season-high 18 turnovers.
The Pack will now shift its focus to a two-game road stretch, starting with a rematch against Virginia on Wednesday, Jan. 24 in Charlottesville. Tipoff between the Wolfpack and Cavaliers is slated for 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on the ACC Network.
https://gopack.com/news/2024/1/20/mens-basketball-late-push-falls-short-as-hokies-get-past-nc-state