NC State makes quick work of St. Francis in 95-64 win

NC State didn’t need much time on Saturday afternoon to build a comfortable lead and while St. Francis managed to remain within shouting distance for the first half, this one ended up the lopsided blowout it was supposed to be.

Markell Johnson’s struggles from the field continued for another game, which leads one to wonder how much the ankle is still bothering him. I have no doubt that he’ll be fine, and anyway it isn’t like State needed a great game from him in order to take care of the undermanned Terriers.

Still you can hardly keep Markell from a few moments of brilliance even when he’s struggling, and he certainly had those. He also finished the day with nine assists, while no other player had more than three.

C.J. Bryce, on the other hand, has had absolutely no trouble scoring buckets in the early part of the season, which continued Saturday. He came in shooting better than 65% on twos and was 7-11 inside the arc against St. Francis. Bryce led all scorers with 22 points.

D.J. Funderburk was next in line with 17 points and added seven boards; Manny Bates put together a second straight solid performance, finishing with 12 points on 5-8 shooting. It’s early, but he’s showing a lot of positives.

As a team, NC State did a better job on the glass in the second half, and not surprisingly, without that lifeline, St. Francis faded away. The Terriers didn’t shoot the ball well and turned the ball over a bunch, and without offensive boards in the first half, would have been deeper in the hole a lot sooner.

NC State will be back in Reynolds Coliseum on Tuesday night when Alcorn State comes to visit.