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RALEIGH -- N.C. State used its advantage inside with Brandon Costner and Ben McCauley to avenge a loss that helped define last year's lost season, running out to a 16-point lead Wednesday night and holding on for a 87-76 win over East Carolina at the RBC Center.

Still smarting from last year's 75-69 defeat in Greenville, the Wolfpack (6-1) came out with energy and focus.

"It's tough to lose against an instate rival team like that, especially on their court when they rush the floor," McCauley said. "It kind of puts you down a little bit. To have them come to our court this time, we had some sweet revenge. It was definitely big for us to get out there and show our fans and everyone out there how we can play."

Costner, who finished with 24 points and 17 rebounds, scored State's first eight points, and his 3-pointer from the right wing gave the Wolfpack a 20-12 lead.

Costner went 8-for-14 from the field and 3-for-7 from 3-point range in 28 minutes.

"Opportunities were there and I took advantage," Costner said. "I'm not the type of guy who's going to really force things."

But the Pirates used their speed to stay in the game. Point guard Brock Young blew past State's guards and got into the lane seemingly at ease. Only a poor shooting first half (3-9) by the sophomore, the nephew of former Wake Forest standout Danny Young, kept East Carolina from taking a lead into halftime.

As it was, the Wolfpack needed a half-court heave by Javier Gonzalez to go into intermission with a 45-42 advantage.

But in the second half, the Wolfpack forced turnovers early and limited the Pirates to one shot. State opened the half on a 15-2 run, with Costner and McCauley combining for 13 of those points.

"At halftime we realized that we couldn't keep trading baskets," Costner said. "We needed to lock down on 'D.' That's been our M.O. throughout the year -- defense. We kind of forgot about that in the first half and really needed to come out and set the tone in the second half."

Just when it looked like State was going to blow East Carolina out, Young took over.

Starting with 12:10 remaining and the Pirates down by 11, Young scored the next 15 points for East Carolina.

But according to the Wolfpack players, that's exactly what they wanted him to do.

"Their point guard, Young, played a heckuva game," McCauley said. "He was getting to the basket every time. That's one of the thing we were focusing on. We were concentrating on making him finish and not kick it out to the 3-point guys."

Young came in leading the nation with 8.6 assists per game, and State did not want him setting up sharpshooters James Legan and Sam Hinnant, who scored 30 points in the upset win last year.

And while Young gave State fits with a game-high 25 points, the strategy paid off for the Wolfpack as the Pirates shot 38.4 percent for the game after coming in making 48.3 percent of their field-goal attempts.

The Pirates closed within four points when Hinnant hit a layup with 3:21 remaining.

But East Carolina, which lost three inside players to fouls, could not hold off Costner and McCauley, who finished with 20 points.

"We had to stay out of foul trouble and we didn't," East Carolina coach Mack McCarthy said. "When we went small, we had a plan for that. We were pretty good offensively. But we weren't very good defensively."

State hit its free throws in the final minutes, exacting revenge for last season's upset.

"That loss really hurt," Costner said of last year's game. "There was no reason why we should have lost that game. I really felt like that was a big turning point in the season and started us on a downward trend that, obviously, ended pretty ugly. To come out today and avenge that loss felt pretty good."

As the State fans started chanting, "Just like football" as time wound down, the Wolfpack had one last delicious moment.

Hinnant, who seem to win last year's game in Greenville single-handedly, finished the game with an airball.

With top defender Courtney Fells missing his second straight game, the job of defending Hinnant fell to Simon Harris and Johnny Thomas. Hinnant finished with 18 points.

"That's what I like to do," Harris said of his defensive effort. "If they have a guy who likes to score or who scores easily, I love to be the one out there trying to stop them. It's really gratifying when you see a guy missing shots and putting his head down."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

EAST CAROLINA (8-2)

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS

Legan 32 3-10 0-0 1-3 0 2 7

Hinnant 39 6-15 2-3 1-6 0 1 18

Young 38 9-23 6-8 3-7 6 3 25

Abrams 26 3-7 0-0 0-0 0 4 7

Wynn 24 2-5 2-2 5-8 1 5 6

Morrow 15 2-5 2-2 5-8 0 5 6

Turner 14 2-6 0-0 1-2 0 1 4

Sherrod 12 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 5 3

Totals 200 28-73 12-15 16-35 8 26 76

Percentages: FG .384, FT .800.

3-point goals: 8-26, .308 (Hinnant 4-9, Sherrod 1-2, Abrams 1-4, Young 1-5, Legan 1-6).

Team rebounds: 1.

Blocked shots: 1 (Wynn).

Turnovers: 9 (Wynn 4, Young 2, Sherrod, Abrams, Legan).

Steals: 9 (Legan 4, Young 2, Hinnant 2, Morrow).

N.C. STATE (6-1)

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS

Harris 29 2-3 0-0 1-1 3 1 5

Gonzalez 29 2-4 0-0 1-1 3 1 6

Ferguson 34 2-4 1-2 0-2 2 2 6

Costner 28 8-14 5-6 2-17 3 2 24

McCauley 28 6-7 8-11 2-6 0 1 20

Degand 11 0-4 7-8 0-1 3 3 7

Williams 6 0-1 0-0 0-1 1 0 0

TSmith 12 4-5 3-5 0-2 1 1 11

Thomas 12 1-6 1-1 3-3 0 0 3

Horner 11 2-4 1-1 1-2 0 0 5

Totals 200 27-52 26-34 10-39 16 11 87

Percentages: FG .519, FT .765.

3-point goals: 7-21, .333 (Costner 3-7, Gonzalez 2-4, Harris 1-2, Ferguson 1-3, Horner 0-1, Degand 0-1, Williams 0-1, Thomas 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 3.

Blocked Shots: 4 (Horner 2, Harris, Ferguson).

Turnovers: 14 (Costner 7, Gonzalez 3, McCauley 2, T.Smith, Degand).

Steals: 5 (McCauley 2, Ferguson 2, Gonzalez).

Technical Fouls: Ferguson.

East Carolina 42 34 -- 76

N.C. State 45 42 -- 87

A--16,763. Officials--Brian Kersey, Doug Sirmons, Bob Donato.