Markell Johnson N.C. State
Sports

[Gallery] NC State Takes Notre Dame’s Luck Late

Brian Hayes

RALEIGH, N.C. – With N.C. State Wolfpack senior guard  C.J. Bryce out for the third consecutive game with a concussion, the Wolfpack needed someone to step up against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish yesterday, Jan. 8.

Notre Dame led 39-34 at halftime, but Wolfpack senior guard Markell Johnson turned it in the second half and N.C. State (11-5, 2-2 ACC) defeated the Fighting Irish (10-5, 1-3 ACC) 73-68.

“That was a great team win, ” said Wolfpack head coach Kevin Keatts. “The reason being is we fought through a lot of adversity. When you look at the fact that we were without our leading scorer and rebounder, throughout the game, we had so many different obstacles we had to overcome. Johnson had back spasms at halftime – I didn’t even know if he was gonna be able to play the second half.”

Gallery: Images courtesy of Landon Bost

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Despite the injury, Johnson scored 14 of his 27 points in the second half to tie his finished with a career-high and had seven assists, four rebounds and three steals.

N.C. State guards Jericole Hellems and Braxton Beverly and forward DJ. Funderburk scored in double-figures –  12, 10 and 16 points, respectively. Wolfpack freshman forward Manny Bates had three blocked shots and set freshmen single-season record with 48 blocks through 16 games.

“(Bates) is what everybody should be,” Wolfpack head coach Kevin Keatts said, “He’s a guy who didn’t play two years of basketball as a senior in high school and a freshman last year. Just to see him come back and play the way he’s played  – I knew would’ve anticipated.”

NC State’s bench play proved to be a deciding factor outscoring the Irish 16-3.

The Fighting Irish lead for 31 minutes and 29 seconds and their largest lead was 12 points.

“I thought our pressure was very effective in the second half,” Keatts said,  “(Their defense) got tight once the score got tight. I knew once we got the lead, we could put pressure on them: and it worked for us.”

The NC State Wolfpack will travel to Blacksburg, Virginia on January 11th at 2:00 pm to take on the Virginia Tech Hokies.

 

Feature image courtesy of Landon Bost

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