Raleigh, NC – Everything the Wright State Raiders needed to go right did Tuesday evening, which is normally a great recipe for an upset. The 4-7 Raiders entered PNC Arena and countered every NC State punch thrown to come away with an 84-70 victory in Raleigh, NC, sending the once promising season-opening run by the Wolfpack into a danger zone as they have now lost three straight games.
The Wolfpack have looked nothing like themselves since blowing their second half lead against then top-ranked Purdue in Brooklyn earlier this month. Sandwich in a neutral court loss to Richmond last Friday night in Charlotte and the Wolfpack are in dire need of the holiday break to reset and return to their winning formula.
Both teams traded baskets to open the contest with Wright State holding a 7-6 lead over NC State at the 16-minute media timeout. Freshman guard Terquavion Smith would score the first eight points for the Wolfpack before Dereon Seabron became the second NC State player to record a basket. A three-point play from Wright State tied the game at 10-10 with 13:55 left in the first half.
Back-to-back turnovers from NC State lead to baskets from Wright State to put the Raiders ahead 14-10 with 11:52 remaining in the opening half. The Raiders run continued, forcing a NC State timeout with 9:30 on the clock and the Wolfpack trailing 21-14. Smith continued to be the driving force of the NC State offense as he scored four straight to slice the Wright State lead to 25-19. A three from Cole Hellems brought the Pack to within one at 27-26 with just over five minutes left before the break. Hellems connected on a three-point shot near the top of the key to give NC State its first lead since 10-7 early in the half. Each team traded score to close the half putting the Wolfpack ahead 38-37.
The Raiders came out of the break on a mission, taking a 46-40 lead with 16:40 left in regulation. The Wright State lead grew to 54-44 with 14:50 remaining before a three from Smith ended the Raiders run. Five straight Wolfpack points from Cam Hayes made the score 65-56 in favor of the Raiders with just over 10 minutes left.
The Wright State lead grew to 75-61 with 4:52 left in regulation with a basket inside. Smith scored out of the timeout to trim the Raiders lead to 12 before Ernerst Ross finished an alley-oop from Smith cutting the lead to 10. The Raiders hit one timely shot after another, but none bigger than a three pointer with 2:15 left – making the score 78-65. The Raiders would cash in on their free throws to escape with the upset win extending the Wolfpack losing skid to three games.
Smith finished the contest with a careeer high 27 points, followed by Hellems with 14 and Seabron with 10. Four Wright State players finished in double figures.
NC State returns to action Wednesday, Dec. 29 when it plays at Miami. The game will tipoff at 9 p.m. and be televised on ESPNU.
Notes:
- Freshman guard Terquavion Smith scored a career-high 27 points to lead NC State. The freshman guard was 12-of-25 from the field.
- Jericole Hellems added 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting and had six rebounds and three steals.
- Dereon Seabron also reached double figures with 10 points.
- Wright State shot over 50 percent in both halves on their way to a 52.5 percent shooting performance, which ties for the best shooting percentage for an NC State opponent this season.
- The Raiders scored 46 of their 84 points in the paint. Grant Basile had a double-double with 23 points and 14 rebounds. Trey Calvin added 19 points while Tanner Holden had 17 points and AJ Braun added 13 points.