Tar Heels defeat William & Mary in NIT
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| North Carolina’s Deon Thompson (left) battles for a rebound with William & Mary’s Kyle Gaillard during the opening round of the NIT Tournament on Tuesday. North Carolina held off William & Mary, 80-72. (MCT photo by Robert Willett/Raleigh News & Observer) |
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (MCT) — Senior Marcus Ginyard grinned broadly as went to the bench with 1.5 seconds left. This might be the National Invitation Tournament, but North Carolina didn’t play like it was second best Tuesday night.
Spurred by a raucous crowd, the fourth-seeded Tar Heels beat No. 5 seed William and Mary, 80-72, at Carmichael Arena. It marked the first men’s basketball game played in the historic gym since Jan. 4, 1986. And it marked the first time North Carolina has scored 80 points in a game since Dec. 30, against Albany.
The Tar Heels (17-16) will play the winner of Mississippi State-Jackson State in the second round.
North Carolina led 43-33 at halftime, but William and Mary — which has rallied from double-digit second-half deficits four previous times this season — took a 72-69 lead with 5 minutes, 2 seconds left on a David Schneider 3-pointer.
The Tribe missed its next three 3-pointers, and North Carolina made six straight free throws to take a 75-72 lead with 1:55 left. Tyler Zeller’s steal-and-dunk with 48.9 seconds left gave the Tar Heels a 77-72 cushion.
Then free throws by Deon Thompson, Dexter Strickland and Larry Drew II sealed a game-ending 11-0 run. Thompson led the Tar Heels with 20 points.
It was an electric atmosphere from the outset. After the national anthem, Will Graves bumped chests with Rameses, the mascot. Taking the court, Ginyard was grinning ear-to-ear.
Up 7-0, Thompson stood near midcourt, raising his hands and spurring on the sellout crowd — which began a deafening chant of “Tar! Heels!”
Then he scored in the paint to give the Tar Heels a 9-0 lead.
The Tribe _ playing without starting forward Quinn McDowell, one of its best 3-point shooters _ finally made its first field goal with 17:58 left, on a Danny Sumner 3-pointer. Then it hit three of its next four attempts to take a 12-11 lead.
After a 4-for-6 start from behind the arc, William and Mary missed its next 11 3-point attempts, allowing the Tar Heels a 12-4 run resulting in a 30-22 lead.
North Carolina got one particular scare during that run when, with 7:32 left, Ginyard and Travis Wear bumped heads, leaving Wear with a cut above his right eye, and Ginyard sitting on the court, woozily holding his head. Wear went to the locker room to get four stitches, but Ginyard returned to help his team shoot 53.1 percent in the first half, and take a 43-33 lead at the break.
