Barber's career-high 38 help NC State beat Wake Forest 99-88

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Comments0
• Email
• Print

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Comments0
• Email
• Print
• Subscribe

RALEIGH, N.C. -- North Carolina State's Anthony "Cat" Barber knew he was being too passive. And if there was any doubt, his coach gave him a simple halftime instruction.

"Get going," Barber said coach Mark Gottfried told him.

The Atlantic Coast Conference's leading scorer responded with 30 of his career-high 38 points in the second half, helping N.C. State beat Wake Forest 99-88 on Saturday.

The junior point guard was dominant, finishing 10 for 20 from the floor and 17 for 20 on free throws -- getting to the line 18 times after halftime alone. He finished with his seventh 30-point game to continue as the unquestioned bright spot in a down year for the Wolfpack (13-12, 3-9 ACC).

"Sometimes it's just I feel like I need to put the team on my back and go out and make plays and score," Barber said, "because the team relies on me to do a lot of things."

Freshman Maverick Rowan added 20 points for N.C. State, which shot 54 percent after halftime and got to the line 45 times for the game.

Codi Miller-McIntyre scored a season-high 24 points for the Demon Deacons (10-15, 1-12), while Devin Thomas had 15 points and a career-high 21 rebounds.

But Wake Forest lost for the 10th straight time since beating N.C. State 77-74 on Jan. 10, and pushed its school-record ACC road losing streak to 21 games.

Barber, who came in averaging 23.5 points to rank sixth nationally, spent Saturday's second half befuddling a defense that couldn't stop him from going to the rim, getting to the foul line or doing just about anything else.

"You want to try to contain the dribble better than we did," Wake Forest coach Danny Manning said. "He was still able to find the seams and find a crack and get into the paint. Obviously we didn't do that good of a job. But he's a tough cover."

---

TIP-INS

Wake Forest: Freshman Bryant Crawford scored 16 points. ... Wake Forest shot 56 percent before halftime but just 41 percent afterward. ... Wake Forest's last ACC road win was at Virginia Tech in January 2014, according to STATS.

N.C. State: The Wolfpack made 33 of 45 free throws (73 percent). ... N.C. State scored 17 points off turnovers, 13 in the first half to help erase an early 10-point deficit. ... The school said it was the Wolfpack's best output in league play since scoring 99 in a home upset of North Carolina in January 1992 under Les Robinson.

HELPING CAT

In addition to Rowan's 20, Caleb Martin added 18 points and seven rebounds. And the two combined to make 7 of 16 3-point tries for the Wolfpack.

LOTS OF FOULS

The teams combined for 50 personal fouls, 32 of those going to the Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons made 18 of 27 free throws (67 percent) compared to the Wolfpack's 24-for-31 effort (77 percent) in the second half alone.

"We were driving the ball," Manning said. "We've just got to figure out a way to get a foul called, I guess. That would help us out."

LONG DROUGHT

The Demon Deacons have lost 11 straight here and haven't won in Raleigh since an infamous game in 2005.

That night, future NBA all-star Chris Paul popped Wolfpack star Julius Hodge in the groin after a rebound in the first half -- missed by referees but later leading to a one-game suspension -- then hit the winning shot at the buzzer on an ugly night in Raleigh.

UP NEXT

Wake Forest travels to Pittsburgh on Tuesday.

N.C. State travels to No. 7 Virginia on Monday.

---

Follow Aaron Beard on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/aaronbeardap and the AP's college basketball site at http://collegebasketball.ap.org

Copyright 2016 by The Associated Press

This story is from ESPN.com's automated news wire. Wire index

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Email
• Subscribe
• Print
• Comments0