Chris Bell drilled eight 3-pointers — all in the first half — en route to 26 points as Syracuse held off North Carolina State for an 87-83 victory on Tuesday night in Raleigh, N.C.
All eight of Bell’s makes from the field came from beyond the arc as the Orange (17-10, 8-8 Atlantic Coast Conference) picked up their first road win since Jan. 16 while improving their NCAA Tournament odds.
Quadir Copeland added a career-high 25 points while Judah Mintz finished with 15 and JJ Starling had 13 for Syracuse, which shot 50.8 percent from the floor (30 of 59) and 60 percent from deep (9 of 15) thanks in large part to Bell.
DJ Horne poured in a game-high 32 points for the Wolfpack (16-10, 8-7), who have dropped three of their past four games. D.J. Burns Jr. and Ben Middlebrooks each tallied 12 points.
North Carolina State went 26-for-56 from the field (46.4 percent) and 7-for-17 from 3-point range (41.2 percent). It also hit 24 of 29 free-throw attempts.
A pair of free throws by Middlebrooks with 3:15 left in the game gave the Wolfpack an 82-81 lead, North Carolina State’s first advantage since the 18:08 mark of the first half.
After things were tied at 83-all, Copeland was fouled on a drive with 15 seconds remaining and hit both ensuing free throws for an 85-83 Syracuse lead.
Horne missed a jumper with three seconds to go, and Mintz made two more foul shots to seal the result.
Syracuse exploded in the first half, taking a 55-40 lead into the break despite Mintz (team-high 18.3 points per game entering Tuesday) being held scoreless in the first 20 minutes of action. He was also tagged with two fouls.
Bell had five of his triples in the first 5:56 of the contest, helping the Orange grab a 21-11 lead. North Carolina State pulled within 27-24 thanks to a Horne trey with 9:13 remaining in the first half before Syracuse gradually pulled away.
The Orange led by as many as 16 in the second half.
–Field Level Media
