Unconquered

ACC release:

Richard Howell scored 22 points with 12 rebounds while Lorenzo Brown led the defensive effort on league player of the year Erick Green to help NC State beat Virginia Tech 80-63 in Thursday's first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

C.J. Leslie scored 15 points for the fifth-seeded Wolfpack (23-9), who shot 52.8 percent (28 of 53) and took control with an 11-0 second-half run. NC State led by 17 points after that spurt and never let the 12th-seeded Hokies (13-19) get the margin under double figures again.

Brown had nine points, 12 assists and seven rebounds, but did his best work as a nagging defense presence against Green - the nation's leading scorer at 25.4 points per game. Green finished with 15 on 5-for-19 shooting for one more frustrating ACC Tournament performance in the senior's final game.

The Wolfpack advanced to Friday's quarterfinals to face fourth-seeded Virginia.

NC State certainly didn't expect to be in Thursday's first round considering it entered the year as the league favorite for the first time since the 1974-75 season and carrying a No. 6 national ranking, the program's highest in 29 years. But the Wolfpack played inconsistently much of the year and squandered a chance to earn a top-four seed and a first-round bye by losing at Florida State in last weekend's finale.

Yet the Wolfpack had relatively little trouble against the last-place Hokies in what the team hopes is just the start of another postseason run after reaching the ACC semifinals and the NCAA tournament's round of 16 last season.

Howell, a first-team all-ACC performer, finished 11-for-13 from the field. Leslie added seven rebounds as NC State took a 39-24 rebounding advantage.

Freshman Rodney Purvis punctuated the win by throwing down a slam over Virginia Tech's Christian Beyer with 2 seconds left.

Virginia Tech shot 50 percent in the first half and trailed 38-32 at the break, but fell to 35.3 percent (12 for 34) after halftime as the Wolfpack pulled away.

NC State won the first meeting in overtime on Feb. 16, though Green had 29 points and eight assists in that one. He didn't come anywhere near that with Brown chasing him around the court this time, while other Wolfpack defenders were quick to give help if Green managed to get a step on the 6-foot-5 junior.

NC State led just 48-42 before freshman T.J. Warren started the decisive run with a 3-pointer, then Brown found Howell ahead in transition for a slam. After another basket from Warren, Brown found Howell in the lane for a score, then found Purvis for a transition layup that made it 59-42 with about 12 minutes left.

Virginia Tech got no closer than 10 again.

Green had shot just 33 percent in his six career tournament games coming in, including 20.8 percent (5 for 24) from 3-point range. Going back to his 3-for-16 performance in a loss to Duke in last season's quarterfinals, Green missed 27 of 35 shots in his last two ACC tournament games.