Jericole Hellems and C.J. Bryce each scored 16 points as North Carolina State rallied for a 77-73 victory over Pittsburgh in Atlantic Coast Conference action Saturday in Raleigh, N.C.

DJ Funderburk and Manny Bates added 13 points apiece and Markell Johnson had 10. Bates grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked five shots.

NC State (18-11, 9-9 ACC) had lost its two previous games while trying to position itself for an NCAA Tournament bid. The Wolfpack have two regular season games left, starting with a rematch at Duke on Monday night. NC State shocked the Blue Devils, 88-66, on Feb. 19.

Au'Diese Toney's 24 points paced Pitt. Xavier Johnson had 13 points and Justin Champagnie and Eric Hamilton both posted 10 points.

The Panthers (15-15, 6-13) have lost six games in a row for the longest active losing streak in the conference. They made only 15 of 27 free throws and committed 17 turnovers.

NC State trailed most of the game before taking a 62-61 lead on a Hellems' 3-point basket with 6:55 left. The Panthers went back up 63-62 before the Wolfpack's 10-2 spurt.

Hellems made all six of his field-goal attempts before fouling out with 5:30 remaining.

Toney's 3-pointer gave Pittsburgh a chance down 72-68, but teammate Johnson missed a long-range shot with about a minute to play. The Panthers also missed five free throws in the final 2:25

Pittsburgh led 61-55 with just less than eight minutes remaining. The loss dropped the Panthers to 1-8 in ACC road games.

NC State shot just 22.7 percent (5 of 22) from behind the arc.

Pitt led 31-30 at halftime, aided by 11 NC State turnovers. The Wolfpack ended up with 17 turnovers.

The Wolfpack won its ninth in a row in the series. Each of the last five meetings has been decided by six or fewer points.

--Field Level Media