NC State pushes past Boston College in overtime, 89-80

Nothing meets your face so cleanly as the cold hard slap of necessity. NC State could not afford to lose at home to Boston College. And NC State didn’t lose to BC, but it took overtime. That’ll wake you up.

State took a nine-point lead into the break and extended that lead to double figures on several occasions over the first half of the final 20 minutes, but as it turned out, Boston College decided to try to win, too. And BC held a lead late in the second half, made the final minute dicey, and forced State to force overtime and also forced a rueful grin from all of us.

Disaster was averted quickly, as NC State scored the first seven points of the extra frame and buried the Eagles with a 12-2 start. It didn’t have to be this difficult, and it didn’t need to take this much time, and it’s stretches like those that leave you scratching your head trying to figure how the other team ever had a chance in the first place.

Devon Daniels led all scorers with 19 points and he was crucial, showing us exactly why he can be a difference-maker in any given game. State can be a different team when he’s focused and playing restrained ball. That’s just been far too infrequent a thing.

Boston College got a lot more out of its offense than it does normally, but give State credit for this: Ky Bowman needed 16 shots to score 17 points. He was only 2-8 from two, which at least vaguely balanced his 4-9 shooting from three. Once this thing was tight late, he could have easily taken a small sample straight to victory. It was his missed shot that led to overtime.

Whew.