Terquavion Smith and Jericole Hellems unleashed a torrent of 3-pointers in the first half to shoot North Carolina State past Virginia in a 77-63 ACC victory Saturday at Raleigh, N.C.

The Wolfpack (10-10, 3-6) had lost eight of its previous 10 games but Hellems scored 21 points and Smith added 20 to halt the slide.

Hellems made 5 of 9 shots from 3-point range, while Smith made 4 of 7. All of their made 3-pointers came in the first half, when NC State turned an eight-point deficit at 26-18 into an 11-point lead at 43-32.

Hellems and Smith were so hot that the ACC's third-leading scorer Dereon Seabron was content to take just six shots for the Wolfpack on his way to scoring 13 points. Seabron also delivered six rebounds and five assists. While NC State made 60 percent of its shots overall and was 12 of 22 (54.5 percent) on 3-pointers.

It was the first home victory for NC State over Virginia coach Tony Bennett. Since taking over in the 2009-10 season, Bennett had won all seven times he brought the Cavaliers to Raleigh.

Virginia (11-8, 5-4) was led by Armaan Franklin who tallied 14 points. Jayden Gardner added 13 points and Reece Beekman had 12.

The Cavaliers opened the game hot from the outside. With Franklin and Kihei Clark hitting two 3-pointers each, the Cavaliers rolled to their 26-18 lead in the first 11 minutes. The Cavaliers finished the game 10 of 17 (58.8 percent) from beyond the arc.

NC State took control with a 22-3 sprint. Hellems fueled it with a trio of 3-pointers, the third of which culminated the run, giving the Wolfpack a 40-29 lead. Defense also fueled the spree as Seabron and Casey Morsell made steals and turned them into breakaway baskets.

Morsell, who played the last two seasons at Virginia, opened the second half with a driving layup and a 3-pointer for the Wolfpack. Morsell finished with 12 points and seven rebounds.

In the second half, Virginia never got the deficit into single digits. NC State led by as many as 21 points at 72-51 with 5:13 remaining.

-Field Level Media