Wolfpack outplays Eagles

RALEIGH -- N.C. State already frittered away an ACC home game to one of the teams at the bottom of the conference standings.

The Wolfpack wasn't interested in any repeat performances against an outmanned Boston College team on Thursday night at the RBC Center.

With a focused and high-energy effort, State dispatched the Eagles, 76-62 to improve to 3-1 in the ACC for the first time in six years.

With consecutive convincing ACC wins, State has put the home loss to Georgia Tech on Jan. 11 in its rearview mirror.

"The main focus was to learn from the Georgia Tech game and not make the same mistakes," State forward C.J. Leslie said.

Leslie and Richard Howell set the tone for the Wolfpack (14-5) during a game-changing 15-0 run that started with eight and half minutes left in the first half.

Howell was all hustle and sticky fingers. His diving effort after a loose ball with 3:32 left in the half inspired first-year coach Mark Gottfried to ask the home crowd for a show of appreciation.

Howell finished the game with 11 points, 15 rebounds and three steals.

"Rich was great," said guard Scott Wood, who led the Wolfpack with 16 points. "He really set the tone on defense."

Leslie, who was back in the starting lineup after coming off the bench in State's 76-40 win over Wake Forest last Saturday, added an efficient 14 points, on 7-of-10 shooting, in 28 minutes.

Gottfried said it was a measure of discipline to bench Leslie against Wake for an incident in practice last week. The talented sophomore got his coach's message loud and clear.

"He was great," Gottfried said. "He played hard. He had some cramps again, so we just have to keep trying to solve that problem, but other than that he was good."

Leslie left the bench in the second half for about five minutes of game time to get an IV treatment but returned to close out the Eagles (7-11, 2-2).

BC was off to a surprising 2-1 start in the ACC and had the game tied at 21 when 7-footer Dennis Clifford dropped in a 3-pointer at 8:44.

But Leslie got State going on a 15-0 run with an alley-oop flush and a steal and reverse layup to stake the Pack to a 36-21 lead with three minutes left in the first half.

The Eagles proceeded to go almost six minutes without scoring, and stretching into the first five minutes of the second half, were outscored 30 to 7 after Clifford's 3.

So much of State's focus was based on what happened in its last home ACC game. Georgia Tech, 1-3 in the ACC, beat State 82-71. The Jackets have since lost at Maryland and lost at home to Virginia on Thursday night, 70-38.

"The last time we were in this building, we kind of let the fans down and played really bad," Wood said. "We didn't want that to happen again."

There were no such problems on Thursday. The Eagles trailed by as many as 23 in the second half and didn't cut the lead down to 14 until the final minute.

Giglio: 919-829-8938