No. 9 Temple defeated No. 8 N.C. State in a game that went down to the wire. After leading most of the game, Temple had to buckle down and hold off N.C. State as they closed out the game by the score of 73-70.
Khalif Wyatt lead the scoring with 31 points after going 9-22 from the floor. He finished with five assists and after playing great defense, finished with three steals. Forward, Jake O'Brien had a strong game from the floor as well, specifically from the three-point line. O'Brien finished with 18 points after going 4-6 from three and finishing 7-9 from the floor.
Though they put up a great effort, N.C. State couldn't make big shots at the end of the game. C.J. Leslie finished with 20 points after going 8-12 from the floor. Lorenzo Brown also had a good game going 7-13 and scoring 18 points.
N.C. State had a great game shooting as they finished 27-50 for 54 percentile, but their issues were turnovers as they coughed the ball up 13 times. Temple did a great job holding on to the basketball as they only had five turnovers. They did a great job cutting down on Temple's halftime lead as they trailed by 16 points.
After the four-minute mark, the game stayed within single digits and N.C. State gave themselves a chance by fouling and forcing Temple to the three throw line, but they hit just enough to keep their lead as they went 21-33 from the free throw line.
Temple will now meet either Indiana or James Madison in the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.
