North Carolina State’s Jarkel Joiner racked up 27 points and made key contributions to a game-turning run in the second half in the Wolfpack’s 76-64 victory against Dayton in a consolation-round game of the Battle 4 Atlantis on Thursday in Paradise Island, Bahamas.
The Wolfpack pulled ahead during a 17-0 run that provided a 55-39 lead with less than 11 minutes to play. Joiner had seven of the points during that spurt, which was capped by his three-point play.
Terquavion Smith added 11 points (all in the first half), and Jack Clark and reserve D.J. Burns Jr. both had 10 points for an NC State team that shot 49.1 percent from the field. Joiner was 7 for 12 from the field to go with 11 for 13 on free throws.
NC State (5-1), which lost to unbeaten Kansas on Wednesday, will face either BYU or Butler in Friday’s fifth-place game. Dayton (3-3) will face the loser of that late game.
Toumani Camara pumped in 19 points and DaRon Holmes II scored 17 points for Dayton, which committed 18 turnovers a day after a one-point loss to Wisconsin.
Clark’s nine rebounds lifted NC State to a 34-28 edge on the boards.
After the Wolfpack’s big scoring run, Dayton churned out six of the next eight points. Joiner had a response, with a jumper and then a 3-pointer for five points in a 40-second span that boosted NC State’s lead to 62-45.
The Flyers followed that with seven straight points, but turnovers on their next two possessions doomed the comeback attempt.
Dayton shot just 2 for 11 on 3-point attempts for the game.
NC State came back from an early 10-point deficit to lead 36-32 at halftime. Smith scored six of the Wolfpack’s final eight points of the half.
This neutral-court victory gave the Wolfpack a triumph away from home for the first time this season.
–Field Level Media