Virginia Tech Men's Basketball

NC State Outlasts Virginia Tech 71-64

The Wolfpack take its fourth consecutive win over Virginia Tech despite another strong showing by the Hokies.

By Justin Cates Feb 22, 2014, 6:36pm EST

T.J. Warren torched the Virginia Tech zone defense all afternoon scoring 31 points on 12-of-21 shooting from the field to lead North Carolina State to a 71-64 win in Blacksburg.

Sophomore guard Tyler Lewis added a career-high 11 assists and scored 8 points including some key free throws late in the game. Forward Kyle Lewis added 13 points and five rebounds for the Wolfpack (17-10, 7-7 ACC) helping to keep NC State's NCAA Tournament hopes alive.

For the Hokies (9-17, 2-12 ACC) the slow-down gameplan continues to pay dividends as Tech controls the pace and keeps scoring low while playing shorthanded. Forward Cadarian Raines and guard Ben Emelogu were both unavailable due to injury.

Freshman point guard Devin Wilson led the charge scoring 14 points with nine assists and Jarell Eddie had 14 points and six rebounds.

Trevor Thompson had nine points and nine rebounds while C.J. Barksdale added nine points, six rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot.

Ball-handling and poor free-throw shooting undid Tech as they finished with 17 turnovers and made 22-of-37 shots from the line (59.5%). The Hokies won the rebounding battle 39-31, however, the Wolfpack took 22 more shots than Tech.

Virginia Tech never led in the game but made several late rallies in the second half including a 7-0 run that cut the lead to eight before a bizarre technical foul on Joey Van Zegeren with 5:24 remaining.

Two Wilson free throws cut the lead to 67-63 with 35 seconds left, but clutch free-throw shooting from Tyler Lewis sealed the game for NC State.

The Hokies return to action Tuesday when they travel to Cameron Indoor Stadium to face the No. 5 Duke Blue Devils.