Khalif Wyatt and the Temple Owls advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament with a 76-72 win over North Carolina St. on Friday afternoon. The final score was not indicative of how one-sided the game was for 35 minutes.
NCAA Tournament 2013 bracket, NC State vs. Temple: Owls escape Wolfpack, 76-72
Temple moved out to an early double-digit lead and never looked back, advancing to the third round to likely face Indiana.
Jason Miller
Midway through the second half, Charles Barkley said, “They wanna play basketball but not sweat,” of North Carolina State’s players. That seemed to be the story of the day for coach Mark Gottfried’s team. They seemingly lost out on every loose ball and showed no sense of urgency until the very end.
Wyatt paced the Owls throughout, scoring a game-high 31 points. Temple moved out to a double-digit lead midway in the first half and never looked back, taking a 16-point lead into the break.
The Wolfpack cut the deficit to three points with two minutes left in the second half, although they were unable to hit the big shot despite getting multiple clean looks at the basket. It was a disappointing finish to a disappointing year in Raleigh.
Richard Howell had a big game for the Wolfpack with 14 points and 15 rebounds. C.J. Leslie, who was likely playing the final college game of his career, scored 20 points for NCSU before fouling out in the final minute.
With the win, Temple moves on to likely face Indiana in the third round. This game will be played on Sunday afternoon. The winner moves on to the Sweet 16.
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