Williams' 22 pushes N.C. State over Boston College 79-71

CHESNUT HILL, Mass. (AP) — Darrion Williams scored 22 points and hit four 3-pointers as North Carolina State withstood a second-half push to beat Boston College 79-71 on Tuesday night in ACC play.

Williams went 8 of 18 from the field and 4 of 7 from behind the arc for N.C. State (11-5, 2-1), which shot 48% overall and finished 13 of 22 from 3-point range. Terrance Arceneaux added 12 points off the bench, knocking down three 3-pointers, while Matt Able scored 11 points with six rebounds.

N.C. State carried a 40-32 halftime lead and maintained control most of the night with timely perimeter shooting. Alyn Breed opened the second half with a pull-up jumper, and Paul McNeil Jr. later buried a 3-pointer to extend the margin to nine. When Boston College crept within three midway through the half, the Wolfpack answered with a short run capped by a tip-in dunk from Musa Sagnia.

Boston College (7-8, 0-2) continued to hang around behind Fred Payne, who matched his career high of 22 points by the 11:22 mark of the second half. Payne finished with 24 points on 7-of-13 shooting, including 3 of 6 from 3-point range, and went 7 of 8 at the line.

Williams put the game away late, drilling two 3-pointers in the final four minutes to restore a double-digit cushion. McNeil added a late 3 as N.C. State closed it out at the line.

Up next

N.C. State travels to Florida State on Saturday.

Boston College faces No. 20 Louisville on the road this Saturday.

___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball