North Carolina State advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament on Tuesday night with a 74-59 victory over Xavier in Dayton.
It was the second of four play-in games in the 68-team field. Earlier on Tuesday, Albany defeated Mount St. Mary’s 71-64.
The 12th-seeded Wolfpack will play No. 5 seed Saint Louis in the Midwest region. The winner of that matchup likely will play defending champion Louisville in the third round.
N.C. State was led by T.J. Warren, who scored a game-high 25 points and also chipped in five rebounds and three steals. The sophomore forward, who overcame a poor first-half performance to hit seven of his last nine shots, now owns a school record with 30 games of 20-plus points. Junior guard Raiston Turner added 17 points for a Wolfpack offense that shot 54.6 percent from the field.
After opening up a six-point halftime lead, N.C. State outscored Xavier 40-31 in an exciting second half. Xavier gave a valiant effort in the final 20 minutes but its comeback attempt was thwarted by a red-hot N.C. State offense that started the second half converting 14 of its first 22 shots.
Photo via Twitter/@jackcoleman5
