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RALEIGH — Dennis Horner took his Parks, Rec and Tourism final exam at 8 a.m. Thursday.

Judging by his performance Thursday night, the fifth-year senior probably aced the test in that Leadership and Supervision class.

Horner scored a career-high 23 points, including six straight in a key stretch in the second half, helping N.C. State in a come-from-behind 79-76 win over Elon at the RBC Center.

Power forward Tracy Smith played through a painful deep thigh bruise and finished with 21 points and eight rebounds for the Wolfpack (8-1), which trailed by as many as 11 points.

"We got away with one today," N.C. State coach Sidney Lowe said. "Elon definitely outplayed us in the first half. We were fortunate, really fortunate, to get away with this one because they had more energy than we did."

Adam Constantine scored 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Elon (3-8), which led 39-33 at halftime and 61-59 with 5:25 left in the game.

Devan Carter scored 12 points, and Chris Long finished with 11 points and 11 assists for the Phoenix, which didn't get a game-tying 3-point shot off in time after rebounding Smith's missed free throw with 2.6 seconds left.

"In the last 90 seconds, I felt we could still win," Elon coach Matt Matheny said. "As the time ticked, I knew it would take some missed free throws by them for us to have that opportunity. But with 2 seconds left, they miss a free throw and we're down three and have a shot to tie it. That, to me, is playing competitively tough for 40 minutes."

That toughness surprised N.C. State.

"We went out with the expectation we were better than this team — way better — and we were going to beat them by a lot of points," Smith said. ... We didn't come out with any energy in the first half. Everybody was laying back. It was like, 'OK, we're playing Elon. Wake Forest beat'em by 40, so we should beat'em by 40.' Everybody was playing lackadaisical. Once the second half hit, we knew if we lost this game it would be really bad for us."

Horner scored 14 of his points in the first half, but the rest of the Wolfpack's starters struggled. Smith got in early foul trouble and had eight points in just eight minutes. Javier Gonzalez, C.J. Williams and Scott Wood combined for no points on 0-for-8 shooting.

Elon, meanwhile, got 14 points from Constantine, 10 from Carter and led for all but the first 1:52 of the half.

"We came in and thought we were going to get an easy win against them, and that wasn't the case at all," Horner said. "Their guys played really well. ... We've got to learn from that."

Williams, Gonzalez and Wood — all MIA in the first half — scored the first three baskets of the second half to give N.C. State a 40-39 lead.

From there, it was back and forth and neither team led by more than six points.

Horner made three baskets in 52 seconds to erase a five-point Elon lead, and Smith gave N.C. State the lead for good on back-to-back put-backs, drawing a foul on the second and making the free throw to make it 62-61 with 5:24 left.

Smith hobbled through the second half, grimacing in pain. He often paused on defense to squeeze his right thigh and put pressure on the bruise.

"In the first half, Constantine's knee got me right there," Smith said. "And the rest of the game, when he would try to get position he'd bang his hip right into the same spot. From there it was just hurting. ... It bothered my movement a lot. But second half, last couple minutes, I didn't let that stop me. We couldn't lose this game."

Once the Pack led, it made just enough free throws to win.

Backup point guard Julius Mays finished the game in place of Gonzalez, who is still nursing a sore hamstring. Mays shot 6-for-8 from the foul line in the final 34 seconds.

"I can't say we didn't deserve it because we came back and made plays," Lowe said. "But we didn't give them the respect they deserved. Elon determined they could beat us. Anytime you fight a bigger opponent and throw the first punch, you get some confidence."

Contact Jeff Mills at 373-7024 or jeff.mills@news-record.com

ELON (3-8) — Spradlin 2-7 4-6 8, Carter 5-10 0-2 12, Long 3-10 3-4 11, Constantine 12-18 2-2 26, Douglas 4-7 0-0 10, Bonney 0-4 0-0 0, Birdette 2-6 0-0 5, Dugas 1-1 0-0 2, Watts 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 30-64 9-14 76.

N.C. STATE (8-1) — Gonzalez 3-6 0-0 7, Wood 1-6 0-0 2, Williams 2-9 0-0 4, T.Smith 9-13 3-7 21, Horner 10-17 1-2 23, Howell 1-4 2-4 4, Painter 2-3 2-2 6, Degand 0-1 0-0 0, Davis 3-4 0-0 6, Mays 0-1 6-8 6. Totals 31-64 14-23 79.

Halftime—Elon 39-33.
3-point goals—Elon 7-20 (Carter 2-3, Douglas 2-5, Long 2-6, Birdette 1-2, Bonney 0-2, Spradlin 0-2), N.C. State 3-14 (Horner 2-3, Gonzalez 1-3, Mays 0-1, Degand 0-1, Wood 0-3, Williams 0-3).
Fouled out—None.
Rebounds—Elon 36 (Constantine 10), N.C. State 40 (T.Smith 8).
Assists—Elon 16 (Long 11), N.C. State 17 (Gonzalez 5).
Total fouls—Elon 19, N.C. State 15.
A—12,892.