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Hansbrough, Heels survive scare, rally past Winthrop
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Tyler Hansbrough had 20 points and 10 rebounds and No. 2 North Carolina rallied to beat Winthrop 73-66 on Wednesday in the NIT Season Tip-Off.
Freshmen Wayne Ellington added 13 points and Brandan Wright scored 12 for the Tar Heels, who overcame 25 points from the Eagles' Torrell Martin to advance to the semifinals next week in New York against the winner of a late game Wednesday between Gonzaga and Baylor.
North Carolina (2-0), down nine with under 17 minutes to play, went to their highly regarded freshmen class to come back. Ellington's back-to-back buckets inside and Ty Lawson's 3-pointer in a 9-0 run tied it at 45.
North Carolina took its first lead of the second half on Bobby Frasor's layup with 9:55 left, in part thanks to picking up the intensity on defense, an area coach Roy Williams has been critical of since practice began.
The freshman trio of Wright, Lawson and Ellington scored consecutive baskets and Hansbrough, a sophomore, put it away with consecutive dunks, the second coming off a Winthrop turnover, to go ahead 65-55 with under three minutes left.
Martin, who hit 6-of-8 3-pointers in the first half, made just 1-of-7 after halftime. Michael Jenkins had 15 points and Craig Bradshaw had 14 for Winthrop (2-1), which committed 18 turnovers.
With Martin's hot shooting early, the Eagles appeared poised to pull off another win a major conference opponent. Winthrop, which returned four starters from last year's team that lost on a last-second shot to No. 2 seed Tennessee in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, have beaten Marquette, Providence, Georgia, Clemson and Missouri in recent years.
But a win against the Tar Heels would have gone to the top of the list of regular-season accomplishments for coach Gregg Marshall, who accepted the College of Charleston coaching job over the summer only to change his mind the next day.
Martin, the preseason player of the year in the Big South, hit his first four 3-pointers to give Winthrop a 19-17 lead.
The senior, who had been battling a stomach virus that forced him to get an IV at halftime of Tuesday's win over Iona, hit two more 3s sandwiched between a one-handed dunk to help the Eagles build a 34-26 advantage.
The Tar Heels, who committed 14 first-half turnovers, appeared rattled by Winthrop's pressure defense. The Eagles repeatedly sent an extra defender to Hansbrough's blind side, which twice led to turnovers.
Winthrop's lead ballooned to 38-26 on Taj McCullough's jumper with 2:45 left.
But the Tar Heels committed only three turnovers in the second half.
hurricane fan wrote:Did that loss to the second worst team in the league stop Winthrop from winning the conference last year, LUconn? For anyone with commen sense who watched them play against UNC, it would stupid to say anything else but the championship goes through Winthrop.
Hold My Own wrote:I have a question for the haters...with WU playin as well as they are right now and if we knock them off yall willing to give RD a 3 year extention???Good question. Yeah--let's hear from you!
- By PAmedic
- By Dalegarz1