Bates’ career day powers Wolfpack to comeback win over Pitt

The NC State men’s basketball team picked up a victory in one of its two final “must-win” games of the season for the NCAA Tournament, beating Pittsburgh 77-73 Saturday afternoon inside PNC Arena.

A career-best performance by redshirt freshman Manny Bates and a dominant second-half run pushed the Wolfpack (18-11, 9-9 ACC) to a big win after struggling with the Panthers (15-15, 6-13 ACC) for the first 30 minutes.

“We found a way to win a game when we were not playing very good basketball,” said NC State head coach Kevin Keatts. “I thought the last 5-6 minutes of the game is when we started to play [well] … I’m excited, it’s a great win.”

With sophomore forward Jericole Hellems and redshirt junior forward D.J. Funderburk both fouled out in the final few minutes of the game, Bates helped secure the win. The redshirt freshman scored a career-high 13 points, brought down a career-high 10 rebounds and blocked five shots in the best performance of his young career. Bates’ defensive presence down low turned away any potential Pitt slashers, but it was his offensive game that unlocked NC State’s offense in the second half.

“We just had to dig down deep and lay it all on the court today,” Bates said. “We just had to take it one play at a time. Basketball is a long game, so we just had to take it play by play and keep getting better after every play.”

NC State came out slow in the first half, going down within seconds after Pitt guard Au’Diese Toney drained a 3 to put the Panthers up to start the game. For the remainder of the half, the Wolfpack trailed or was tied for every second, struggling to hit long-distance shots. NC State connected on just 2 of 10 shots from the 3-point line.

“It’s a time of year when you look around college basketball and nobody is shooting the ball well, because it’s been a long year,” Keatts said. “We’ve got to figure out how to drive the basketball a little more and not settle for 3s. I thought that’s kind of where the game changed around, when we stopped settling for 3s.”

NC State had an “allergic to the lead” first half, tying the score several times or coming within a possession of the Panthers, but it was unable to ever force the stop on defense and make the bucket it needed to take a lead.

Bates and redshirt senior guard C.J. Bryce led the Wolfpack in the first half with a combined 17 points, keeping NC State in the game despite just six combined points from Funderburk, senior guard Markell Johnson and redshirt junior guard Devon Daniels.

With NC State down four near the 14-minute mark of the second half, Funderburk spun in the post and got a layup to fall, drawing a foul in the process. Hellems was shoved after celebrating Funderburk’s layup, and a technical foul was called as well. The hoop cut the lead to two and the harm down to one. Junior guard Braxton Beverly stepped to the line for the technical free throws and missed both. The Wolfpack still had a chance to take its first lead of the game, but Beverly pump-faked at the 3-point line, took a step in and missed the pull-up jumper that would have finally put the Pack ahead.

Funderburk carried the team on his back for the first 10 minutes of the second half, scoring 11 points and getting NC State within the three it needed for sophomore forward Jericole Hellems to tie the game up at 51. But Pitt surged out to a 7-0 run over the next 90 seconds for a 58-51 lead, and NC State once again went from a chance to take its first lead to down by multiple possessions.

But Hellems stepped right back up for the Pack, scoring five points in a row to fuel a 17-5 Wolfpack run. Not missing a shot the entire game, Hellems hit on all six shot attempts, including two 3-pointers. Despite fouling out late in the game, he was huge down the stretch, with his first 3-pointer tying the game up and his second giving NC State its first lead of the game, which it would never relinquish.

“Confidence is key for me,” Hellems said. “If I see the first shot go in, I’m going to let it fly again, and it did today … From what I saw, we were already on the way to [taking the lead] anyways, and my 3 was just another bucket to help it.”

Hellems finished with 16 points, and Bryce and Funderburk had big games as well. Bryce scored 16 points on 5-for-15 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds, and Funderburk put up 14 points and seven rebounds before fouling out.

With the win, NC State kept its hopes of an NCAA Tournament at-large bid alive, and with a date with Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Monday looming large, there’s no time for the Wolfpack to rest on its laurels.

“We definitely need every win right now,” Funderburk said. “It's a quick turnaround. We've got a big game Monday, and we've got to close out with another big game later on that week. Right now, our main focus is to just get back in the gym tomorrow and work on polishing up a few things … and just try to come out with a win over there.”

NC State will be back in action on Monday, March 2 against the Blue Devils. The game will tip off at 7 p.m. and be broadcast live on ESPN.