Casey Morsell, NC State turn back Louisville

Field Level Media|published: Tue 12th March, 19:13 2024

Mar 12, 2024; Washington, D.C., USA; Louisville Cardinals guard Skyy Clark (55) drives to the basket as North Carolina State Wolfpack guard Jayden Taylor (1) defends in the first half at Capital One Arena. credits: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Casey Morsell scored 25 points and North Carolina State withstood a huge scoring outing from Louisville's Skyy Clark to beat the Cardinals 94-85 in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament's first round Tuesday at Washington.

Clark poured in a career-high 36 points, going 7-for-9 on 3-pointers, to send Louisville to an early lead and later help produce a second-half comeback.

But NC State had balance, with Jayden Taylor's 18 points and Michael O'Connell's 16 points providing boosts, while DJ Burns Jr. had 12 points despite limited court time because of foul trouble and Ben Middlebrooks added 11 points.

Morsell hit 13-for-13 from the free-throw line, with the Wolfpack holding a 33-11 scoring edge in free throws.

The 10th-seeded Wolfpack (18-14) meets seventh-seeded Syracuse (20-11), which had a first-round bye, in the second round Wednesday night. Syracuse won both regular-season meetings.

Brandon Huntley-Hatfield supplied 17 points and seven rebounds and Tre White posted 13 points, but 15th-seeded Louisville, the league's last-place team, was unable to avenge a home loss from the regular season. Clark was 12-for-17 overall from the field.

NC State played without team scoring leader DJ Horne, who suffered a hip injury Saturday night at Pitt.

The Wolfpack went ahead 66-59, but then it was Louisville's turn to churn out a comeback, pulling even at 75 on Clark's 3-pointer with 4:50 left.

Another 3 from Clark moved the Cardinals within 83-80. But, following a Louisville turnover, Morsell made four free throws in a 24-second span and then O'Connell drained two from the foul line with 1:04 remaining.

Clark scored 12 points on 5-for-5 shooting with a pair of 3-pointers as Louisville went up 23-11 slightly more than seven minutes into the game. The Wolfpack rallied to go ahead later in the first half before Louisville came back to hold a 46-45 halftime edge.

The Cardinals shot 66.7 percent from the field in the first half, but were damaged by costly turnovers. They had nine first-half giveaways, with several leading directly to NC State baskets.

- Field Level Media

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