Paul McNeil Jr. and Quadir Copeland each poured in 21 points and North Carolina State added to its hot stretch by beating Virginia Tech 82-73 for its longest Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season winning streak (six games) in more than a half-century Saturday afternoon at Raleigh, N.C.
Tre Holloman cranked out 16 points, and Ven-Allen Lubin had 11 points for NC State (18-6, 9-2 Atlantic Coast Conference). McNeil made four 3-pointers, and Hollomon hit seven 3s. Copeland provided 10 assists and five steals.
This is the Wolfpack’s best regular-season stretch in conference play within the same season since going 12-0 in 1973-74. They won the last four ACC regular-season games in 1988-89 and their first three in conference play the next season.
Amani Hansberry (19 points) and Tobi Lawal (17 points, 15 rebounds) led Virginia Tech (16-8, 5-6), which had a week off since falling at home to first-place Duke. Neoklis Avdalas added 14 points, and Jaden Schutt made three 3s on the way to 11 points off the bench.
Virginia Tech, which repeatedly failed to string together scoring possessions, went 7-for-25 on 3-pointers. The Hokies finished with 15 turnovers and 14 assists.
NC State overcame a shaky shooting outing from Darrion Williams, who had heated up in recent games, but was limited to four points on 1-for-9 shooting. Meanwhile, Virginia Tech starter Ben Hammond didn’t score in 32 minutes, missing all nine of his shots.
The Wolfpack, fresh off a big comeback Tuesday night at SMU, led 36-24 at halftime. Virginia Tech more than doubled its first-half output in the second half but it wasn’t enough.
Holloman’s 3-pointer gave the Wolfpack a 20-7 lead slightly more than eight minutes into the game. Virginia Tech didn’t have a 2-point basket until more than 10 minutes into the game.
Virginia Tech played again without guard Tyler Johnson, who hasn’t been in a game since prior to Christmas but earlier in the week was considered likely to return.
–Field Level Media
