RALEIGH — Towson's the last satellite Maryland school on N.C. State's schedule. For that the Wolfpack can be thankful.
After barely beating Loyola (Md.) on Monday, N.C. State found itself down 10 points to Towson in the first half on Wednesday.
The Wolfpack got a career-high 31 points from Tracy Smith to pull away and beat the Tigers 88-68.
In a sparsely populated RBC Center on New Year's Eve, State needed spark off the bench from Smith, who dominated the smaller Tigers.
Smith hit all 11 of his free-throw attempts, and 10 of his 15 field goals.
State beat Loyola 62-60 on Monday after the Greyhounds missed a shot in the final seconds. The Pack trailed Towson for most of the first half until Smith rallied them to a 46-41 halftime lead.
The Tigers (5-7) had visions of an upset, starting hot from 3-point range, hittting 6 of their first 10 with four from guard Josh Thornton (16 points).
State was re-focused after the close call to Loyola but the Tigers blazed to an 18-2 run, with all of Thornton's 3s in the stretch, to take a 21-11 lead before Smith scored nine straight points for the Wolfpack.
State didn't get the lead back until the 1:38 mark, on Smith's layup. His putback of a missed free throw by Ben McCauley gave State the five-point working margin.
Brandon Costner added 15 points and a career-best 10 assists.
Staff photo by Ethan Hyman
