North Carolina had plenty of opportunities to beat Alabama in regulation and at the end of each overtime but the Tide found a way to defeat the Tar Heels 103-101 in a controversial four-overtime game. (11/27)

Carolina lost its second game in a row in the Phil Knight Invitational in Portland in heartbreaking style in a game that will be remembered as the one where a goaltending call was reversed to the detriment of the Tar Heels.

It appeared that the Tar Heels had taken a 103-102 with nine seconds left in the fourth overtime as Caleb Love scored on a goaltending call. But after several minutes of watching replays, the officials said there was no goaltending and that since neither team had possession when the “inadvertent whistle” came, it would go to the possession arrow. Guess which team had the arrow.

After UNC’s Seth Trimble bothered the inbounds pass, Bama lost the ball out of bounds and the Tar Heels still had a chance with eight seconds left. After a timeout, Carolina’s Pete Nance had trouble getting the ball in and finally turned it over on the inbounds pass.

After Alabama’s Jaden Bradley hit one of two free throws, the Tar Heels still had a chance to win as R.J. Davis had a long three-point shot go awry, much to the dismay of the Carolina bench which thought Davis was fouled on the shot.

“For whatever reason the ball didn’t bounce our way. That’s life,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said. “When things don’t go your way, I told the team, you have a choice. You can whine and complain and make excuses and stay down or you can get back up and compete and fight.”

Trailing 37-34 at the half, the Tar Heels went on an 8-0 midway through the second half to go up 63-55 after a Caleb Love floater with 9:29 to go.

Alabama, on the strength of four three pointers over four minutes, drew to a 71-71 tie. With it tied at 77, each team had a chance to win it in the last 30 seconds but a shot by each team failed.

Neither team did much in the first overtime as Love missed a three late that would have broken an 81-81 tie and won it for the Heels.

“Late clock execution is something that’s got to improve,” Coach Davis said. “A lot of it comes down to does the ball go in or not. We had a number of looks in those situations – mid-range jump shots and threes – that we normally make. We just didn’t make it.”

Pete Nance blocked a shot late in the second overtime and Love barely missed a three-quarters court shot at the buzzer to send it to a third overtime at 89-all.

Three drives to the basket by Love, Davis and Nance put the Heels up 95-89 in the third overtime but, once again, Carolina couldn’t close it out. UNC’s Davis won has hit more than 95 percent of his free throws missed one midway through this overtime that would ended up being the difference.

Alabama’s Brandon Miller hit a three and Jahvon Quinerly tied it with free throws at 96-96 with 28 seconds left. Once again, UNC’s Love got off a shot at the buzzer that fell short, setting up the game-deciding fourth overtime.

Love had a career-high 34 points to lead Carolina but he hit only 13 of 36 shots and managed only three of 11 from beyond the arc. Bacot, despite being in foul trouble most of the game and injuring his ankle in the second half, had 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Davis missed two-thirds of his shots on the way to 19 points. Others in double figures were Leaky Black and Puff Johnson with 10 each.

Alabama, now 6-1, was led by Mark Sears’ 24 points. Sears, who had been shooting only 37.5 percent on the season, hit eight of 13 shots including seven of 11 three-point attempts.

Carolina, 5-2, travels to No. 11 Indiana Wednesday at 9:15 p.m.

For a box score and analysis of the game, please click here.