Terquavion Smith scored a season-best 33 points as North Carolina State topped visiting Coppin State 94-72 Tuesday night in Raleigh, N.C.
Smith shot 12 of 21 from the floor and 6 of 12 from behind the arc for the Wolfpack (8-2). Smith also had five rebounds and seven assists and finished one point shy of his career high, set last season.
NC State also got a big boost from Jarkel Joiner, who poured in 29 points on 11-of-17 shooting. Jack Clark led the Wolfpack on the boards with 10 rebounds. The Wolfpack have now won four of their last five games.
Coppin State (4-7) was powered by Sam Sessoms’ 24 points and nine assists. The fifth-year guard entered the game averaging 23.9 points per game. Nendah Tarke added 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Eagles and Justin Steers chipped in 15 points.
The Wolfpack led the Eagles wire-to-wire, opening the game with an 11-3 run, punctuated by a 3-pointer from Smith. Later in the opening half, a 21-2 run gave NC State a 25-point lead — its largest of the game. That stretch was highlighted by four 3-pointers from Smith.
Coppin chipped away at the deficit in the second half, eventually cutting NC State’s advantage down to 10 points following a 17-8 run. Sessoms had eight points during that sequence. The Wolfpack then outscored the Eagles 20-8 to close the game out.
The victory for NC State marked the second time this season it had shot better than 50 percent from the floor and better than 40 percent from 3-point range in the same game.
NC State won despite missing seven free throws and losing the rebounding battle by one. The Wolfpack tied a season high in assists with 21.
Up next, the Wolfpack play their first Atlantic Coast Conference road game of the season on Saturday, at Miami.
–Field Level Media