An injured ankle couldn’t slow down John Jenkins, who scored 28 points to lead Vanderbilt to an 86-79 win over North Carolina State in the Legends Classic semifinals at the Izod Center in New Jersey.

Vanderbilt (3-1) has now won three of the four all-time meetings with the Wolfpack and advance to the Legends Classic final, where it will face either Texas or Oregon State Monday.

North Carolina State (3-1) fell to 82-59 all-time versus SEC opponents and head coach Mark Gottfried, a former Alabama head coach, dropped to 5-6 against Vanderbilt for his career.

Jenkins buried a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired before teammate Lance Goulbourne stole the ball and buried two foul shots to put Vanderbilt ahead 83-77 with 36 seconds remaining. Jenkins, who scored 21 of his points in the first half, was one of four Vanderbilt starters in double figures. Forward Jeffery Taylor added 17 points and nine rebounds.

North Carolina State sophomore C.J. Leslie scored 20 points off the bench, dropping 18 of those in the first half before being hampered by an injury in the second half. Leslie was making his season debut after serving a three-game suspension for accepting improper benefits. Richard Howell took over the scoring load for the Wolfpack after Leslie went down, muscling his way for 16 points and nine rebounds.