North Carolina trailed by seven at the half and then All-America candidate Armando Bacot came alive, scoring 27 of his 28 points in the second half to pace the Tar Heels to a 102-86 victory over the College of Charleston at home. (11/11)
UNC coach Hubert Davis said that his team’s physicality in the second half was the key. “We decided to compete,” he said. “I told them at the half if we would compete on both ends of the court that things would turn around quickly and it did.”
The Tar Heels erased the halftime deficit in less than two minutes into the second half as Caleb Love drilled a three to tie it at 50-50.
The lead went back and forth nine times before Carolina went up 78-70 on a 10-2 run highlighted by a Bacot two-handed dunk and a Love steal and dish to Seth Trimble for a layup.
Charleston did cut it to five with eight minutes to go before the Heels wrapped it up with a 14-4 run to get out to a comfortable 94-70 lead with 2:24 to play.
Carolina’s largest lead of the game at 102-84 came near the end when Bacot took an alley oop pass from Love and Love picked up a loose ball and raced in for a dunk.
In the first half, Charleston, which led by as many as eight points, hit 53 percent of its shots including six threes while outrebounding the Heels 21-17.
In the second half, Carolina outscored Charleston by 23 points, 59-36.
“Our team has to understand that we’ve going to get everybody’s best effort,” Coach Davis said. “In order for us to be successful against anybody we have to compete with energy and poise.”
While Bacot’s 27 and Love’s 25, most of which came on drives to the hoop, led the scoring, Leaky Black gave Carolina a lift with 15 points including 10 in the first half to keep the Heels within striking distance.
Coach Davis praised freshmen Tyler Nickel, who scored eight, and Trimble, who scored four and gave Carolina starters 11 minutes of rest. But he wasn’t happy with rebounding as the Heels were outrebounded for the second game in a row, 35-32.
Charleston’s Dalton Bolon led four teammates in double figures with 16 points.
Carolina, 2-0, hosts Gardner-Webb Tuesday night.
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