N.C. State scorches Texas Tech as another double-digit seed wins in Pittsburgh

N.C. State opened the NCAA Tournament where it left off in conference play — with a win.

The surprising Wolfpack have been doing that a lot lately.

Ben Middlebrooks scored a season-high 21 points, Mohamad Diarra went for 17 points and 12 rebounds, and ACC champion N.C. State used its size advantage to control the night from the start Thursday and beat Texas Tech, 80-67, at PPG Paints Arena.

The 11th-seeded Wolfpack (23-14) advance Saturday to play No. 14 seed Oakland, a surprise winner over No. 3 seed Kentucky, in a second-round game, shaking loose from Texas Tech in the second half to finish strong.

“We got stronger in the second half,” N.C. State coach Kevin Keatts said. “We started defending.”

The Wolfpack relied on their two top scorers, the 6-foot-10 Diarra and 6-9, 275-pound DJ Burns Jr., to clear a path for their teammates. When they weren’t scoring, the 6-10 Middlebrooks was.

Coming off the bench for 23 minutes, he shot 6 for 8 and made all but one of his 10 free throws.

“They were tougher than we were,” Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said. “Middlebrooks, Diarra, their rebounding, their physicality, and then the combo of DJ (Burns) and DJ Horne scoring inside and out. They kept us on our heels. Their paint points was the difference in the game.”

The two DJs — Burns and Horne — finished with 16 apiece for N.C. State, which led for the entire second half after holding a four-point halftime advantage.

N.C. State, just the second team to claim an ACC Tournament championship by winning five games in five days, continued its rampage in the NCAA’s first round against the Big 12’s Texas Tech (23-11) to extend its winning streak to six.

The Wolfpack ran through their ACC Tournament schedule unscathed, beating Louisville, Syracuse, Duke and Virginia before knocking off top-seeded North Carolina in the championship game.

With Burns on the bench early in the second half with three fouls, Middlebrook and his other teammates picked up the slack.

“That gives me life, man,” Burns said. “When you see someone at the same position as you who is giving you that, it makes you better. I can’t go out there and not play my best and he’s going out there giving it his all. That would be letting him and my team down.”

The Wolfpack finally pushed the lead to double digits for the first time on Casey Morsell’s layup with 10 minutes, 33 seconds remaining and from there never let it dip below 10.

Joe Toussaint led Texas Tech with 16 points. Pop Isaacs added 12 and Darrion Williams chipped in 10.

N.C. State, which held a slim 33-31 edge on the boards, settled for a 37-33 halftime cushion after taking a seven-point lead in the final minute. Until then, the lead seesawed with neither team ahead by more than four points.

N.C. State outscored Texas Tech 7-3 over the final 3:01, holding the Red Raiders scoreless during a three-minute stretch before Williams’ 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer broke the drought.

N.C. State became the first team to win the ACC Tournament as a double-digit seed and is one of four teams not projected to receive an NCAA at-large bid that earned an automatic bid by winning its conference tournament.

The others are Duquesne (Atlantic 10), New Mexico (Mountain West) and Oregon (Pac-10), all of whom entered the NCAA Tournament as No. 11 seeds.

Duquesne and Oregon advanced to the second round with victories Thursday, while New Mexico was scheduled to open with a first-round game Friday against No. 6 seed Clemson.

N.C. State hasn’t lost since its last trip to Pittsburgh, an 81-73 decision to Pitt at Petersen Events Center on March 9 in the final ACC regular-season game.