ATLANTA — Nothing is ever easy for N.C. State team and it wasn't on Sunday but the Wolfpack found a way to pick up a needed road win.

With 18 points from Richard Howell in the first half, and 11 from C.J. Leslie in the second half, the Wolfpack beat Georgia Tech 70-57 in another physical, deliberate, ACC basketball game best suited for Tums stockholders and amnesiacs.

The Wolfpack, as it has all season, put together a stretch brilliance, which was enough to carry it to a 14-point lead in the first half, but the Yellow Jackets jammed the tempo of the game into a grinder, like sausage into casing.

RALEIGH Whatever N.C. State lacked in continuity on Wednesday night against Boston College, it made up for in variety.

Rodney Purvis scored in transition, Scott Wood made a bunch of 3-pointers and C.J. Leslie bounced back in the Wolfpack's 82-64 win over Boston College at PNC Arena.

N.C. State won its 20th game of the season, giving the Pack consecutive 20-win seasons for the first time since Herb Sendek's last three teams did it from 2004 to '06.

Despite needing to make up a game on Virginia and North Carolina, N.C. State is still in good shape to land one of the four byes in the ACC tournament.

With four games left, the Wolfpack is one of four teams vying for two spots in Friday's quarterfinals of the ACC tournament. Miami (13-1) and Duke (11-3) will take the top two spots, likely in that order, which leaves two spots for UNC (9-5), Virginia (9-5), N.C. State (8-6) and Maryland (7-7).

North Carolina and N.C. State will both get an early turn in the 2013 college football season in the national spotlight.

In November, the Wolfpack, Tar Heels and Duke will all get a shot at each other on the field.

The ACC released the dates of the football schedule on Monday, it previously released the opponents. UNC will open the season at South Carolina on Aug. 29 on ESPN. The Tar Heels, who went 8-4 in Larry Fedora's first season in 2012, will also host another Thursday night game on ESPN.

Three Points from N.C. State's 76-65 loss at UNC:

1) C.J. Leslie, period.

Mark Gottfried tried benching C.J. Leslie and he tried letting him play through his problems on Saturday at the Smith Center.

Since he was hired 22 months ago, Gottfried has run through just about every option in the coach-player relationship handbook with Leslie. Gottfried calls Leslie "Calvin" instead of C.J., he has made him the primary option of the offense, he has coddled him and he has disciplined him.

For the most part, he has coaxed the best out of Leslie, who has led the team in scoring over the course of Gottfried's 64-game tenure.

Three Points from N.C. State's 84-66 win over Florida State:

1) Hi, my name is ...

… Tony Warren Jr. The 6-8 forward had the best game of his freshman season on Tuesday with 31 points and 13 rebounds. Warren scored with his usual array of "old man" moves, quirky shots from within 8 feet of the basket that don't always look pretty but usually go in, plus he made both of his 3-pointers and all five of his free throws.

Warren's real value on Tuesday was on the offensive glass, where he had eight of his season-best 13 rebounds. Warren had more offensive rebounds against FSU, which relies on three 7-footers, than he had total rebounds in any other ACC game.

N.C. State saved its best, or at least its most complete win, for the 2011-12 ACC champions.

With a decisive rebounding edge and its defense clicking, the Wolfpack throttled Florida State 84-66 on Tuesday night for its first dominant win in league play this season.

"We needed a game like this," N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried said. "We needed to play well and feel good about how we played."

Three Points from N.C. State's 90-86 win over Virginia Tech:

1) Reality check

Twenty-five games is enough of a sample to determine what this N.C. State team isn't. This N.C. State team is not a juggernaut. Saturday's dogfight with the last-place team in the ACC is just the latest example of that.

There are no easy ACC wins for this N.C. State team, despite having the most talented lineup in the conference. For large portions of Saturday's game, Virginia Tech relied on some combination of Will Johnston, Joey van Zegeren and Marshall Wood. And N.C. State still needed overtime to dispatch the Hokies, who fell to 2-10 in the ACC.

RALEIGH — Lorenzo Brown's free throws, and key steal in overtime, led N.C. State to 90-86 win over Virginia Tech.

Brown hit all four of his free throws in the final 26.2 seconds to put the game away for the Wolfpack, which led by 3 in the final seconds of regulation but couldn't close out the last-place Hokies, who have lost eight straight.

State led 78-75 with 5.2 seconds left in regulation when Brown fouled Erick Green (29 points). Green made the first throw and then missed the second, on purpose, which Jarell Eddie putback to send the game into overtime.

It's impossible to overestimate the value of Scott Wood's 3-pointer with 1 second left to beat Clemson, 58-57 on the road on Sunday.

The Wolfpack's season was not miraculously saved by one shot. As N.C. State has proven all along, it is only as good as its next game. What the win did do is throw a life line to the 2013 season.