Lennard Freeman led a strong second-half charge, finishing with a career-high 23 points as NC State defeated Presbyterian 86-68 on Thursday night at PNC Arena.
The Wolfpack are off to their first 4-0 start since the 2014-15 season.
Freeman, a fifth-year senior forward, set a career-high point total for the second game in a row. He made 9 of 12 shots from the field and 5 of 6 free throws.
Torin Dorn added 18 points, Allerik Freeman had 12 points, reserve Omer Yurtseven had 11 points and Markell Johnson supplied 10 points for the Wolfpack, who shot 55 percent from the field despite a 1-for-13 mark on 3-pointers.
NC State, playing for the fourth time in seven days, made Kevin Keatts only the second Wolfpack coach to begin his tenure at the school with four straight victories. This was the closest of the team’s four wins.
Reggie Dillard scored 23 points and JC Younger had 14 points for Presbyterian (1-2).
NC State surged into the lead on Dorn’s three-point play with 13:30 to play.
The Blue Hose were charged with seven first-half turnovers, but they had nine giveaways during the first eight minutes of the second half. They ended up with 22 turnovers, marking the fourth straight opponent to commit against 20 giveaways against NC State.
Presbyterian shot 60 percent (18-for-30) and led 44-36 at halftime.
NC State made 12 of its first 17 shots from the field to negate Presbyterian’s early 10-for-15 shooting. But the Blue Hose kept it up and stormed to a 38-31 lead.
The Wolfpack missed all five of its first-half attempts from 3-point range.
