North Carolina, trailing throughout at Boston College, lost its coach to vertigo in the second half down by five but managed to come back to win at the end 68-65.

Down seven at 56-49 with 7:11 left, UNC’s assistant coach Steve Robinson called timeout. From that point on the Tar Heels outscored the Eagles 19-9, taking their first lead of the game on a pair of Theo Pinson free throws with 3:55 left that made it 57-56.

But with 2:13 to play, Eli Carter sank a three from the left corner to put BC back up 60-59. After another Carolina timeout, UNC’s Marcus Paige got loose for a three and was fouled. He missed the free throw and the Heels led just 62-60.

The Heels got a defensive stop and Justin Jackson came through with a 12 footer left of the lane to put them up 64-60 with 1:40 left.

It never got closer than one but it took a steal by Kennedy Meeks and a pair of Paige free throws with three seconds left to wrap up the win.

Carolina had to play without Coach Roy Williams after he went down during an official timeout with about 15 minutes to go. Coach Williams seemed to be shouting at an official and once he got in the UNC huddle he fell down and had to be helped off the court.

The players, surely worried, promptly turned the ball over on four straight possessions. Meanwhile, BC worked the lead up to eight at 54-46 with under nine minutes to play. A Paige three-pointer from the right wing helped right the ship for Carolina prior to the 19-9 run over the last seven minutes.

UNC’s Justin Jackson, who has not been playing well lately and did not start, played like he was lit on fire in the second half as he scored 13 to finished the game with a team-high 20 points. The normally mild-mannered Jackson, got into a yacking match with BC players and it seemed to fire him up.

Over a period of a minute and 15 seconds, the possessed Jackson scored seven points to keep the Heels in it after they had fallen down by a game-high nine points.

The Tar Heels shot 51 percent for the game but turned the ball over 13 times and only managed nine free throws on just 12 attempts. Paige joined Jackson in double figures with 12 and Joel Berry added 10 more.

“I’m alive. I’m kickin’ but I’m not well,” Coach Williams said, adding that he has suffered from benign positional vertigo for about 18 years but hasn’t had an attack that bad during a game.

“I can’t tell you how happy I am for my team and for Coach Robinson,” he added, emotionally saying that Robinson was like a brother to him.

For more on the game, including a box score, please click here.