North Carolina, down by 11 with seven minutes to go, rallied to force overtime on a last-second turnaround jumper at the buzzer by Pete Nance and went on to defeat No. 23 Ohio State 89-84 at Madison Square Garden. (12/17)

“We needed this win,” UNC Coach Hubert Davis said. “We needed a win against a quality opponent and we needed to win in a late-game situation.”

The CBS Sports Classic game proved to be an instant classic for basketball fans. After an 18-2 Ohio State run in the first half, the Tar Heels trailed by 14 at 34-20 and it looked like anything but a good game.

The Buckeyes, who averaged seven three pointers a game, hit seven threes in the first half to take a commanding 44-35 lead into the half.

A sticky, scrambling Tar Heel defense, combined with an aggressive offense, got Carolina back into it early in the second half. A Caleb Love three and a Love dish to Armando Bacot for a dunk capped a 10-2 run that got the Heels within a point at 46-45 in the first four minutes of the second half.

But Carolina couldn’t get over the hump and the Buckeyes rode the offensive play of Brice Sensabaugh, who led Ohio State with 22 points, to push the lead back up to 11 at 66-55 with just seven minutes to play.

A frantic 12-3 run over the next three minutes got the Heels within a basket at 69-67 with 4:32 to play. The biggest play came when R.J. Davis corralled an offensive rebound, put the ball in high off the backboard and was fouled for a three-point play.

Carolina was finally able to tie it at 72-all with 2:08 to play on a Davis drive to the basket. Then, the Heels got their first lead since it was 14-12 when Davis drained a step-back three in front of the Carolina bench to give the Heels a 75-74 lead with 1:26 to go.

A mid-range jumper by Sensabaugh gave the Buckeyes a 79-77 lead with just two seconds to go. After a timeout, UNC’s Leaky Black advanced the ball to midcourt on a pass to Davis, leaving 1.2 seconds on the clock.

Coach Davis said he didn’t really have a play for that situation but found one by inbounding the ball to Nance who hit a turnaround jumper from about 15 feet away to send the game into OT.

“We’d never run that play before (in practice),” Coach Davis said. “Pete loves that turnaround jump shot and he hit it.”

The Tar Heels scored the first two baskets of overtime, one by Love and one by Bacot, and they never trailed again, hanging on for the big win.

Bacot led the Heels with 28 points and 15 rebounds while Love had 22 points and seven assists. Davis finished with 21 points including going eight of nine at the free throw line.

Carolina, 8-4 overall, plays Michigan in Charlotte on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Ohio State falls to 7-3.

For a box score and more about the game, please click here..