Smith, N.C. State fight off pesky Elon 79-76 in unimpressive pre-ACC performance

N.C. State holds off Elon 79-76

RALEIGH, N.C. — Tracy Smith scored 13 of his 21 points in the second half — including two key baskets in the final 90 seconds — that helped North Carolina State rally past Elon 79-76 on Thursday night.

Dennis Horner scored a career-high 23 points for the Wolfpack (8-1), who turned in an unimpressive performance in their final game before an early start to Atlantic Coast Conference play. N.C. State trailed by as many as 11 points in the first half and didn’t push ahead for good until the final 6 minutes, then had to hang on until the buzzer.

Smith’s three-point play put the Wolfpack in front with 5:25 to play. He then came through with a layup and a turnaround shot over Adam Constantine for a 73-68 lead with 45.9 seconds left.

Constantine scored a career-high 26 points for Elon (3-8), which had a chance for a desperation 3-pointer to tie it but couldn’t get the shot off in time.