NEW YORK– The University of North Carolina basketball team still insists on injecting too much drama into its games
The Tar Heels, who were picked to No. 1 pre-season and return four starters, found a way to beat Ohio State, 89-84, in overtime at the CBS Sports Classic here before a loud sellout crowd at the Garden.
But it wasn’t easy.
UNC was down as much as 66-55 late the second half before rallying to force overtime with stretches of fulll court pressure when 6-11 Northwestern transfer Pete Nance caught a cross court pass from Leaky Black coming out of a timeout with two seconds left in regulation,, then made a clutch turn around jumper off a timeout withj 1.2 seconds to play in regulation to tie the game at the buzzer.
79-79 at the buzzer to force overtime. Then they took the game over behind 6-9 pre-season All America forward Armando Bacot, who finished with 28 points and 15 rebounds– and some inspired guard play in the final five minutes.
Sophomores Caleb Love and Rj Davis, who helped fuel Carolna’s Final Four run as a starting freshman backcourt last season, finished with 22 and 21 points .
This was a much needed quality win at one of the sport’s most historic arenas for an 8-4 team had lost four straight road games to Iowa State, Alabama, Indiana and Virginia Tech and found itself out of the AP Top 25 this week before going on a three game winning streak.
It’s a great atmosphere,” Bacot said. “This is the first time As a kid, I watched games here on TV. When you walk into this arena, see all the historic names who played here. Shout out to the 15-16,000 Carolina fans. They were all into it.”
Carolina coach Hubert Davis, who played here with the Knicks, has fond memories of his experiences in the home.
“It’s like home to me,” he said. “I couldn’t ask for better teammates like John Starks and Patrick Ewing my first four years here for playing for a coach like Pat Riley. I wish I could have played here my entire career. Coach (Dean) Smith used to bring us here every year when I played at Carolina. And I told our guys, “This wouldl be a game to remember.’ As long as I’m here, we’;l have a presence here. We are scheduled to play in the Jimmy V. Classic here next year.”
Carolina and fellow bluebloods like Duke, Kentucky and Connecticut have a huge following that makes them a must see attraction in this media capitol.
The Tar Heels are still struggling to make threes, shooting just 6 for 28 (21 percent) from beyound the arc, and their perimeter defense in the half court needs work, but they did get make the most of an uptempo game, getting to the line 27 times and Love and Davis showed they can still impact a game when Davis turns to full court pressure, helping create 28 points off 16 Ohio State turnovers.
“We were down 18 points against Virgnia Tech when we went to the press and cut their lead to three,”’ Davis said. “It created defflections, steals turnovers. I want to do it more.
But they trailed most of the game and looked like they were destined to lose against after Ohio State’s freshman forward Brice Sensabaugh, who scored 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the 7-3 Buckeyes, made a jumper inside the foul line with two seconds left to give the Buckeyes a 79-77 lead. North Carolina used two timeouts to get the play it wnated, first completing a long inbounds pass to get the ball past halfcourt. Then Leake threw a lob inbounds pass to Nance, who splashed home a game tying shot.
Carolina outscored the Buckeyes, 10-5, in overtime. Love gave the Heels a 85-82 lead with a three and Davis made four straight clutch free throws to ice the game.
“We showed enough fight to come back and win in a guttsy manner,” Bacot said. “This is great for us.”
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