Pack come back falls short at home versus Syracuse, 87-83
Posted February 20, 2024 11:04 p.m. EST
Updated February 20, 2024 11:52 p.m. EST
The NC State men's basketball (16-10, 8-7) dropped a 87-83 decision to Syracuse (17-10, 8-8) on Tuesday night in PNC Arena.
DJ Horne finished the evening with a season-high 32 points. The graduate guard has scored 20 or more points in six consecutive games and Tuesday's contest marked his 100th career game scoring in double figures.
DJ Burns, Jr. , Ben Middlebrooks, and Jayden Taylor each finished in double figures as well, with Burns and Middlebrooks contributing 12 points apiece while Taylor added ten of his own.
Middlebrooks recorded his second double-double of the season for the Pack as he collected a game-high ten rebounds, while Burns passed out a team-best four assists.
The Orange opened the game by scoring 55 points in the first half, with 26 of those coming from Chris Bell. Bell drilled his first eight threes in the opening frame, accounting for nearly half of Syracuse's first-half total.
Bell was held scoreless in the second half, finishing with 26 and leading the Orange while Quadir Copeland complimented him by adding 25 points of his own.
Despite the Wolfpack facing a 15-point deficit at halftime and trailing by as many as 16 early in the second frame, NC State worked back to a tie at multiple points throughout the second half, including an 83-83 split with less than a minute remaining. The Pack even took a short lead, with a 6-0 run that was part of a larger 18-7 spurt closed by a pair of made free throws from Middlebrooks giving NC State a brief 82-81 edge.
Syracuse outscored the Wolfpack 6-1 over the final two minutes of play, icing the contest by sinking four free throws in the final 15 seconds.
NC State returns to action for the second leg of its two-game homestand on Saturday, Feb. 24, as the Pack returns to PNC Arena to face Boston College. Tipoff between the Wolfpack and Eagles is slated for 2 p.m., with the 50th anniversary of NC State's 1974 National Championship set to be commemorated during the game. Saturday's contest will be televised on the ACC Network.
