Boston College 82, N.C. State 65

2/14/2008 8:52 PM

BOSTON (AP) -Tyrese Rice had 32 points and six assists to help Boston College snap a six-game losing streak with an 82-65 win over North Carolina State on Thursday night.

Rakim Sanders added 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Eagles (13-10, 4-6 Atlantic Coast Conference). BC shot 57 percent from the floor.

J.J. Hickson paced the Wolfpack (15-9, 4-6) with 20 points and seven rebounds. Gavin Grant had 15 points and Brandon Costner 14.

BC, which led by nine at the half, saw its lead shrink to 47-42 on Costner's breakaway jam 4:15 into the second half. But the Eagles scored the next eight points to open a 13-point advantage.

Tyrelle Blair, scoreless in the opening 25 minutes, started the spree with a free throw and capped it with consecutive dunks 40 seconds apart. He finished with seven points.

The Wolfpack made one last charge, closing it to six twice, before Rice hit a soft jumper in the lane, Blair added another dunk and Sanders a short jumper to make it 67-57 with 5:04 to play.

NC State never moved closer than seven points the rest of the way.

When Rice wasn't setting up a teammate or handling any pressure defense nearly flawlessly, he was effective shooting the ball, going 12-for-18 from the floor.

Behind Rice's 11 points, the Eagles jumped to a 20-11 lead 8:08 into the game. The junior point guard entered the night as conference's second-leading scorer at 19.9 per game.

BC pushed it to 33-21 on John Oates' 3 from the top with 3:05 left in the half en route to a 41-32 edge at intermission.