NC State erased a three-point halftime deficit and got 20 second-half points from Markell Johnson on the way to an 84-78 win over Hofstra Tuesday night. The Pride hung in there despite trailing most of the second half, and if not for Markell, maybe they would have pulled this one out in the end.
But Markell had all the answers in crunch time. A tough layup by Johnson gave State an 80-76 lead with 1:07 remaining, and after a Hofstra bucket, Johnson came back down the floor and converted an acrobatic and-one play to push the margin to 83-78 with 19 seconds to go.