The NC State Wolfpack used a stifling full-court defense to force 32 Charleston Southern turnovers, in route to a season-opening 95-61 victory Friday night at Renoylds Colesium.
Senior guard Devon Daniels paced the Wolfpack with a career-high 29 points. Fellow seniors Braxton Beverly and DJ Funderburk rounded out the double-figure scorers with 13 and 10 respectively. The Wolfpack turned those 32 CSU turnovers into 40 points. NC State finished the night shooting an impressive 52% from the floor, including 11-23 from three.
Turnovers slowed down a CSU offense already missing its two top scorers and later losing Travis Anderson to a lower leg injury, who at the time was leading the Bucs in scoring. Four Bucs ended the night in double figures.
First Half
Devon Daniels got the Wolfpack going with five early points to put NC State ahead 5-0.
Charleston Southern settled in to trim the Wolfpack lead to 10-7 at the first media break. CSU pushed ahead for the first time at 15-12 with 13:14 left in the opening half. Daniels converted a four-point play at the 10:58 mark to put NC State back up 18-15, with Daniels having 11 of the first 18 points for State.
Daniels would knock in another three, followed by a basket inside from sophomore Manny Bates to force a CSU timeout with 9:22 left in the half trailing 25-17. NC State couldn’t pull away as CSU cut the Wolfpack lead to 27-21 at the 6:50 media timeout. Bates would head to the bench after picking up his third foul, which opened up things for senior center DJ Funderburk. His inside move and finish put NC State ahead 32-26 before CSU answered with a three-point play. Senior Braxton Beverly’s three from the wing pushed the Wolfpack lead to 39-29. NC State then went on an 11-0 run to expand their lead to 43-29 – the biggest of the half. A late basket from CSU made the score 43-31 at the break.
Second Half
NC State forced an early CSU timeout after applying the full-court press – producing points off the turnover, making the score 45-33. The Wolfpack continued to pile it on turning defense into offense as the State lead grew to 53-36 with 17:26 left. The Wolfpack lead would increase to 68-38 with just under 10 minutes remaining in the contest. Both teams traded jump shots making the score 78-47 in favor of the Wolfpack. The Bucs proved to be no match the rest of the way as NC Stated emptied the bench cruising to a season-opening 34 point victory.
The Wolfpack return to action Friday, November 27 as they host North Florida. Tipoff is slated for 5:30 pm.