Thursday March 28th, 2024 6:05AM

Tech men dropped by N.C. State

By The Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Lorenzo Brown had 21 points and 10 assists and No. 20 North Carolina State pulled away late to beat Georgia Tech 83-70 on Wednesday night for its ninth straight win.

Scott Wood added 20 points and C.J. Leslie had 19 in his 10th straight game in double figures for the Wolfpack (13-2, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference).

The nation's most accurate shooting team shot 50.9 percent and needed a late surge to remain on a roll heading into its biggest game of the season - a visit Saturday from top-ranked Duke.

Robert Carter Jr. had 15 points and 10 rebounds and Mfon Udofia added 13 points for the Yellow Jackets (10-4, 0-2).

They controlled the tempo for the first 30 minutes and led 51-47 with 10 minutes to play but managed just three field goals in the final 7 1/2 minutes and lost their second straight.

This one was tight for most of the way, with 11 ties and 14 lead changes. With Georgia Tech patiently in charge of the pace, neither team could assemble anything resembling a run and neither team led by more than four until N.C. State got things rolling midway through the half.

Once the Wolfpack finally found a way to speed things up, they ran away from the Yellow Jackets.

Wood hit two of his four 3-pointers during the burst - N.C. State improved to 14-0 under second-year coach Mark Gottfried when he hits at least four 3s - and his free throw made it 72-60 with 3:14 left.

In between Wood's 3s, Leslie came up with the highlight-reel play of the night when he blocked Carter's 3 at the key, then beat the Yellow Jackets downcourt and hit a layup that had PNC Arena hopping.

Brown set a career scoring high for ACC games, surpassing the 20 he scored against both North Carolina and Wake Forest last year, and had his fourth game this season with double figures in assists.

Rodney Purvis finished with 12 points and Richard Howell had 12 rebounds for the Wolfpack, who made 12 of their final 14 shots and matched their longest winning streak since 2004-05 and picked up their 10th straight victory at home.

Daniel Miller added 12 points for Georgia Tech - which was playing its first game outside Atlanta since November. The Yellow Jackets fell to 0-2 in true road games and remained one victory shy of matching last season's win total.
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