Eagles End Regular Season With Loss To Wolfpack

In a game of runs and shooting streaks by both teams, it was North Carolina State (17-14, 5-11 ACC) that went on the last run, hitting its last eight field goals of the game to defeat Boston College (15-15, 6-10 ACC) Sunday afternoon in Raleigh, N.C. The game, which included seven lead changes and 10 ties, ended with the Wolfpack going on a 19-5 run, killing the Eagles' attempt to gain more momentum heading into Thursday's ACC tournament.

In his last game at the RBC Center, NC State senior forward Dennis Horner came back from an in-game eye injury, for which he received six stitches, to spark the final surge for his team, scoring 11 of his 14 points in his second-half comeback. Horner hit two key 3-pointers in the last four minutes to secure the win for the Wolfpack. Teammates CJ Williams and Tracy Smith also added key baskets, including multiple 3-point plays, to ignite the final run.

The Eagles held multiple leads throughout the game, sometimes as large as six points, but they could not run away with a victory. Starting off with an 8-2 lead, BC soon let up a 16-4 NC State run before making a 9-0 run of its own to take a 21-18 lead with four minutes remaining in the first half.

NC State took a 24-23 lead into the locker room at halftime, but Tyler Roche spurred another Eagle scoring run at the start of the second half to put them ahead 38-34 with 11:57 remaining in the game. From then on, it was a back-and-forth game, with each team trading baskets and three-point plays. Rakim Sanders had two big assists down the stretch with nice feeds to Dallas Elmore and Reggie Jackson, who converted both the basket and the ensuing free throw.

But, in the last 7:27 of the game, NC State went eight of eight from the field and eight of 11 from the charity stripe to prevent the Eagles from making one last comeback run.

BC head coach Al Skinner's flex offense seemed to be working perfectly in the first few minutes of the game, as the Eagles started with four easy layups. Yet, after these first eight points – helped by six NC State turnovers – BC could only manage four more points in the paint in the entire first half. In the second half, the Eagles added 12 more points in the paint, but it wasn't enough for a team that started off shooting zero for nine from beyond the arc. 

NC State gave up multiple open looks from the three-point line, but the Eagles were unable to convert a 3-pointer until Joe Trapani finally hit a three with 16 minutes left in the game. BC finished a mere three of 16 from downtown (19 percent), while NC State converted on five of its 12 3-pointers. The Wolfpack also outrebounded BC, 28-24.

Roche finished his last regular season game in a BC uniform with a team-high 11 points and four rebounds, while Sanders also finished with 11 points, five boards, and five assists.