Terquavion Smith delivered 24 points, five assists and three steals as North Carolina State rolled to a stress-free 92-73 victory over Furman on Tuesday in Raleigh, N.C.
Casey Morsell hit four 3-pointers on his way to 17 points while Jack Clark scored 10 of his 15 points in the second half to help quell a mini-uprising by Furman.
LJ Thomas contributed 14 points, five rebounds and four steals off the bench and Jarkel Joiner scored 10 points and notched five assists as the Wolfpack (9-3) improved to 32-2 in the series.
With Furman (7-4) putting up little resistance, NC State thrived in a free-flowing, open-court game. The Wolfpack forced 20 turnovers and turned them into 19 points.
Mike Bothwell led the Paladins with 14 points. JP Pegues scored all nine of his points on treys in the first half and added seven assists.
In the first half, NC State hit Furman with a pair of early runs, both fueled by Morsell. His consecutive 3-pointers were part of a 10-point spree that put the Wolfpack up 10-2.
Then during an 11-0 spurt, Morsell made another 3-pointer and a traditional three-point play as State took a 26-10 advantage.
But Furman answered with an 11-point run of its own, finished off by a pair of Bothwell layups with cuts to the lane as the Paladins sliced the deficit to 26-21.
Late in the half, Smith took advantage of the rapid pace to get free for a 3-pointer and two fastbreak layups as the Wolfpack went to the break with their biggest lead of the half, 48-29.
Early in the second half after Smith finished off a 7-0 run with a 3-pointer, Furman coach Bob Richey called a timeout and subbed in five new players.
But the fresh Paladins did little to slow the roll of Smith, who threw down a breakaway slam dunk and then drained a 3-pointer as State stretched its lead to its largest of the night at 65-35.
–Field Level Media