First-half surges send NC State to blowout of Colgate

Ben Middlebrooks poured in 19 points off the bench, Marcus Hill scored a season-high 17 points and North Carolina State was in control from the opening minutes in a 72-49 victory over Colgate on Monday at Raleigh, N.C.Hill, a high-scoring transfer guard from Bowling Green, made 6 of 10 shots from the field. Brandon Huntley-Hatfield contributed 11 points as the Wolfpack (4-0) won their fourth straight home game.Nicolas Louis-Jacques scored nine points and Parker Jones and Brady Cummins each scored eight points for Colgate (1-3), which is winless in three road outings. The Raiders committed 16 turnovers.The teams had horrid perimeter shooting numbers, with Colgate at 5-for-26 (19.2 percent) and NC State at 3-for-14 (21.4 percent) on 3-point attempts. With two treys, Jones was the only player in the game with more than one long-range basket.The Wolfpack compiled a 21-2 advantage in points at the free-throw line, with Middlebrooks going 9-for-9.Despite missing 42 shots from the field, Colgate pulled in only nine offensive rebounds. Part of that was connected to Dontrez Styles’ 11 rebounds for the Wolfpack.Colgate was saddled with too many scoring droughts in both halves.A 17-0 spurt gave the Wolfpack a 19-6 lead less than 8 1/2 minutes into the game. An 8-0 boost later in the half increased the margin to 17 points on a layup by Jayden Taylor.

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