news-record.com

RALEIGH (AP) — Georgia Tech knocked down shots and played with poise during a testy second-half stretch that had the hostile crowd roaring in frustration. It was enough to hand first-year coach Brian Gregory his first ACC win.

Glen Rice Jr. scored 22 points to help the Yellow Jackets beat N.C. State 82-71 on Wednesday night, snapping a four-game losing streak and earning a rare road win in the series.

Mfon Udofia added 17 for the Yellow Jackets (8-8, 1-1 ACC), who went on a 19-3 run to end the first half and take control. Georgia Tech led by 11 at halftime, then pushed that margin to 16 points midway through the second half and 18 late in a surprisingly one-sided win.

"Our guys are starting to grasp the idea that it's hard to play well if you don't practice well, and it's hard to play well or practice well if you don't play hard or practice hard every day," Gregory said.

His players looked like they had processed that message against the Wolfpack (12-5, 1-1). They shot 51 percent and hit 9 of 15 3-pointers, winning in the RBC Center for just the second time in 11 tries.

"Surprisingly, everybody was poised and focused," Rice said. "We don't have too many freshmen. Everybody is pretty much used to coming here. We came here last year. I think we did an excellent job because they had a really good crowd. We kept it together."

C.J. Leslie scored 16 points to lead N.C. State, which looked out of rhythm all night en route to handing its own first-year coach — Mark Gottfried — his first league loss. The Wolfpack had won six straight games since falling to top-ranked Syracuse here on Dec. 17.

But N.C. State didn't defend well and didn't shoot well, a bad combination for a team with relatively little margin for error if it hopes to get back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2006.

This was exactly the kind of game that the Wolfpack had to win to reach that goal — at home, against a team that hadn't won since before Christmas.

Instead, Georgia Tech shot 58 percent after halftime and turned away any and every meager comeback attempt by the Wolfpack. The Yellow Jackets finished with their best offensive performance since scoring 92 in the opener against Florida A&M.

"They made some tough shots," N.C. State's C.J. Williams said. "They made shots with a lot of pressure on them. They made contested shots. That's all you can really ask for is to contest as great as you can and take away what they want to do and make them uncomfortable. But they were able to hit shots, and they were able to win the game."

N.C. State pulled to within 45-40 on Williams' layup with 14 minutes left, but Rice answered by losing Williams around a screen and dropping in a runner in the lane. That started another run, this time 11-0 that blew the game open and had the Wolfpack chasing the Yellow Jackets the rest of the night.

Things also got testy during that stretch. Official Roger Ayers whistled Gottfried for a technical foul after a no-call on a missed shot by the Wolfpack. Gottfried, who had just shed his suit jacket in frustration, later yelled across the court at Ayers asking what he did to get the technical and got no response.

Then, during a timeout, Gottfried walked near midcourt and waved his arms to get Ayers' attention at the far baseline, and motioned for Ayers to come talk to him. Ayers shook his head no, then held up a hand as if to say "Stay there."

From there, many fouls on the Yellow Jackets drew loud, sarcastic cheers from an angry Wolfpack crowd while Rice and N.C. State's Richard Howell drew a double technical for jawing at each other before a free throw with 10 minutes left.

Yet Georgia Tech's run continued, with Rice knocking down a tough hanging shot while drawing a foul before Daniel Miller knocked down a jumper over DeShawn Painter to make it 56-40 with 11:14 to play. N.C. State got no closer than 11 again.

The Wolfpack shot just 43 percent, including 5 for 19 from 3-point range.

"We all like to come up with this grand answer of why your team doesn't play good," Gottfried said. "Sometimes you just don't play good."

GEORGIA TECH (8-8)

Udofia 5-8 4-6 17, Miller 4-8 2-3 10, Morris 4-9 1-2 10, Reed 2-5 7-8 12, Holsey 1-7 4-7 6, Royal 1-1 0-0 2, Jordan 1-1 0-0 3, Foreman 0-0 0-0 0, Rice Jr. 7-10 5-5 22, Hicks 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-49 23-31 82.

N.C. STATE (12-5)

Howell 5-10 5-8 15, Brown 4-11 4-4 13, Leslie 6-9 4-8 16, Wood 3-11 2-2 10, Williams 5-10 1-1 12, Painter 0-1 1-2 1, A. Johnson 1-3 1-2 4, de Thaey 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-56 18-27 71.

Halftime—Georgia Tech 40-29.

Percentages—Georgia Tech (FG .510, FT .742), N.C. State (FG .429, FT .667).

3-point goals—Georgia Tech 9-15 (Udofia 3-4, Rice Jr. 3-5, Jordan 1-1, Reed 1-2, Morris 1-3), N.C. State 5-19 (Wood 2-9, Brown 1-2, A. Johnson 1-3, Williams 1-4, de Thaey 0-1).

Fouled out—Leslie.

Rebounds—Georgia Tech 34 (Holsey 8), N.C. State 29 (Leslie 7).

Team rebounds—Georgia Tech 6, N.C. State 3.

Assists—Georgia Tech 9 (Udofia 3), N.C. State 12 (Brown 6).

Blocks—Georgia Tech 5 (Miller 4), N.C. State 6 (Wood 2).

Turnovers—Georgia Tech 14 (Reed 4), N.C. State 12 (Brown 4).

Steals—Georgia Tech 5 (Reed 2), N.C. State 4 (Brown 2).

Total fouls—Georgia Tech 20, N.C. State 22.

Technicals—Rice Jr., Georgia Tech Bench, Howell.

A—14,072.

Officials—James Luckie, Roger Ayers, Sean Corbin.