North Carolina State pulls away from Maryland-Eastern Shore 93-61 behind Taylor's 21 points
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Jayden Taylor scored 21 points shooting 8 of 11 and DJ Burns Jr. scored 15 points shooting 7 of 9 and North Carolina State rolled to a 93-61 win over Maryland-Eastern Shore on Wednesday night.
Casey Morsell added 12 points for North Carolina State (6-2) and DJ Horne 10. Reserves MJ Rice and LJ Thomas scored 11 and 10 respectively for NC State, which shot 59.3% but just 55.6% from the foul line.
Troy Hupstead scored 22 points and Chace Davis and Devon Ellis each scored 12 for Maryland-Eastern Shore.
North Carolina State never trailed with the exception of a 53-second stretch early. Taylor tied it at 4-all, followed that with a 3-pointer then came up with a layup off a steal to make it 9-4. North Carolina State went on a 10-2 run from there to post its first double-digit lead of the night at 19-8 on Morsell's jump shot with 11:25 before halftime.
The Hawks drew within six points on two occasions, and after Hupstead made two foul shots with 1:38 left before halftime, trailed 32-25. Dennis Parker Jr. countered with a jump shot and Thomas made a 3, and the Wolfpack extended the margin to 37-25 at halftime. Tyler Mack's 3 got Maryland-Eastern Shore within 43-34 with 16:31 to mark the Eagles' last single-digit deficit of the night. Thomas made two foul shots to extend NC State's advantage to 70-50 a little more than five minutes later. Rice's layup with 2:13 made it a 30-point margin at 91-61.
Maryland-Eastern Shore travels to Marist for a game on Friday.
North Carolina State has nearly a full week off before hosting UT Martin on Tuesday.
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