Field Level Media
Mar 25, 2021
Colorado State's Isaiah Stevens scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half as the Rams finally found some semblance of a shooting touch and defeated North Carolina State 65-61 in the NIT quarterfinals Thursday night at Frisco, Texas.
David Roddy and Kendle Moore each added 16 points for the Rams. All three of the team's top scorers in the game had six points at halftime.
Colorado State (20-6) takes on the winner of a later game between Boise State and Memphis in Saturday's semifinals.
Jericole Hellems posted 15 points and D.J. Funderburk and Manny Bates both had 13 points for the Wolfpack (14-11), which committed 17 turnovers.
NC State held its last lead at 41-40 with more than 12 1/2 minutes remaining. A Hellems 3-pointer cut the gap to 61-59 with 1:51 to go.
Baskets by Roddy and Funderburk kept it a two-point margin. Following an NC State timeout at the 23-second mark, Hellems missed a potential go-ahead 3.
Then the Wolfpack had to foul three times before sending Moore to the foul line, where he sank both ends of a 1-and-1 for the game's final points. Those were the Rams' only free-throw attempts of the second half.
Funderburk and Bates both shot 6-for-7 from the field after last week's 15-for-17 collective effort in a first-round victory against Davidson.
The Rams won despite 3-for-23 shooting on 3-pointers.
Max Farthing, who had played in only four games this season, gave NC State a 26-21 lead with a 3-pointer. His previous outings came in lopsided victories, and the basket marked his first made field goal of the season.
Funderburk posted 11 first-half points as the Wolfpack held a 28-25 edge at the break.
Colorado shot 8-for-29 from the field in the opening half, including a 1-for-15 mark on 3-pointers. The Rams were aided by an 8-2 advantage in free-throw scoring at the time.
NC State was without senior guard Braxton Beverly, with the team announcing before the game that he was unavailable because of an injury.
This was the first-ever NC State-Colorado State meeting.
--Field Level Media