Four Tar Heels, led by R.J. Davis, scored in double figures as North Carolina broke a 31-all halftime tie to win going away 79-62 at Georgia Tech. (12/5)
Carolina trailed by nine in the first half after the Yellow Jackets drilled five straight three-point shots over the scan of less than two minutes.
The Tar Heels chipped away and tied it at 31-31 late in the half on a runner in the lane by Anthony Harris.
Georgia Tech scored the first four points of the second half before Carolina exploded. After Armando Bacot drove to the hoop to put the Heels up 40-39 with 15:43 to go, they never trailed again.
Bacot’s bucket started 12-0 run from which Georgia Tech never recovered. During the run, Davis drained a three and Manek swished one. The highlight reel play however was probably when Davis penetrated the defense and dished off to Bacot for a bucket.
The margin never got closer than 11 the rest of the way as the Heels ran the lead up to 18 on a three from Manek from the left corner that put Carolina up 70-52 with 4:30 to go. The largest lead came late when Manek hit a three from the right wing to give the Heels a 79-60 lead.
“Brady (Manek) off the bench knocked down some jumpers,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said. “Armando was big down low in the paint.”
Bacot and Manek each scored 15 points while Bacot also pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds, including 10 in the first half. But it was Davis who led the way offensively with 23 points on eight of 11 shots to go along with five assists.
Caleb Love had a number of highlight reel plays on his way to 17 points, five assists, three steals and two blocked shots.
All that being said, Coach Davis said that Anthony Harris’ defense on Michael Devoe, who came into the game as the nation’s leading scorer and top three-point shooter. Devoe, who hit fewer than half of his shots, managed just one of five three pointers and was not a big factor in the game.
“The MVP of the game was Ant Harris,” Coach Davis said, noting his defense on Devoe.
“It (the win) was all about defense,” he added. “We played with grit and toughness, especially in the second half.”
North Carolina, now 6-2 and 1-0 in the ACC, hosts Elon Saturday. Georgia Tech falls to 5-3 overall and 0-1 in the conference.
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