N.C. State pulls away early in 2nd half, beats Syracuse 83-65 in ACC Tournament second round
WASHINGTON (AP) — Jayden Taylor had 18 points and nine rebounds, and North Carolina State rolled to an 83-65 victory over Syracuse on Wednesday night in the second round of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.
Tenth-seeded N.C. State (19-14), which avenged a regular-season sweep by Syracuse, will face No. 2 seed Duke (24-7) in a Thursday quarterfinal.
Syracuse opened the second half on a 7-2 spurt for a 39-37 advantage. N.C. State answered with a 21-4 run for a 58-43 lead with 12:33 remaining. DJ Horne scored 11 points during the stretch and capped it with a dunk. Taylor made a pair of 3-pointers. The Orange pulled within 60-50 but didn't get closer.
The Wolfpack scored 30 points from 19 Syracuse turnovers.
Horne, N.C. State's leading scorer, scored all 16 of his points in the second half. The 6-foot-1 senior injured his hip in the regular-season finale at Pittsburgh and did not play in the Wolfpack’s 94-85 win over Louisville in the tournament's first round.
Michael O’Connell added 16 points and DJ Burns Jr. scored 15 for the Wolfpack. Mohamed Diarra chipped in with eight points to go with 14 rebounds and six assists.
Judah Mintz scored 21 points to lead No. 7 seed Syracuse (20-12). Maliq Brown, Chris Bell and Quadir Copeland added 11 points apiece.
Taylor scored 10 points and O’Connell and Burns combined for 17 to help N.C. State build a 35-32 lead at the break. Mintz led the Orange with 11 first-half points.
Syracuse defeated N.C. State 77-65 at home and 87-83 on the road. The Orange finished the regular season winning four of their last five games.
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