Northwestern tops North Carolina State 65-53
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Michael Thompson scored 22 points and Northwestern beat North Carolina State 65-53 on Tuesday night in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
Jeremy Nash added 12 points for the Wildcats (6-1). Northwestern led by 14, only briefly trailed and won its fifth straight -- the last three coming against teams that entered unbeaten.
Tracy Smith had a season-high 23 points -- including 10 in a row down the stretch for the Wolfpack (5-1) -- on 9-for-18 shooting.
N.C. State cut it to 57-52 on Julius Mays' layup at the 2-minute mark before Northwestern put the game in its point guard's hands. Thompson converted a three-point play about 30 seconds later, then added another free throw to make it a nine-point game and give the Wildcats plenty of breathing room.
Dennis Horner had 11 points and Javier Gonzalez added 10 for the Wolfpack, who lost for just the fourth time in 29 nonconference home games under Sidney Lowe and were held to a season-low point total.
The Wildcats led comfortably midway through the second half before things got chippy. Alex Marcotullio was whistled for a technical foul as he got tangled with N.C. State's Javier Gonzalez near the scorer's table, and that seemed to spark the Wolfpack, who reeled off six quick points and cut it to 47-43 on Smith's fast-break dunk at the 9-minute mark.
John Shurna had 10 of his 11 points in the first half for Northwestern, which has won six of its first seven games for the second straight year and third time under Bill Carmody.
Using a steady stream of backdoor cuts and 3-pointers against N.C. State's man-to-man defense, Northwestern led for all but a few moments of the first half while forcing the Wolfpack to miss 14 of their first 17 shots.
The Wildcats, who shot nearly 58 percent in the half, seemed to have taken control late by hitting seven consecutive shots and using a 12-2 run to stretch their lead to 14. Shurna's fast-break layup after a steal made it 32-18 at about the 4-minute mark. After that, only once did N.C. State get within single digits before the break.