UNC Escapes With 73-60 Win Over Tigers

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CLEMSON,SC - For any other North Carolina team it would have been the dagger in

Clemson's heart.

North Carolina guard Jason Capel hit 3-pointer with 10:21 left that put the

Tar Heels up by 13. He turned to the crowd behind press row and let out a

Ric Flair - like "wooooo."

This isn't a normal North Carolina team.

Just over three minutes later, Clemson had the lead down to two (58-56). The

Tigers hit just one shot down the rest of the game and North Carolina (14-9

overall, 5-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) ran away with a 73-60 win over

Clemson (8-14, 2-7) in front of 10,300 at Littlejohn Coliseum Sunday

afternoon.

"It wasn't so much what they did," said Clemson guard Ed Scott. "Our shots

just didn't fall."

After Adrius Jurkunas tipped in a missed free throw to pull the Tigers

within two with 7:02 left in the game, he missed two 3-pointers. Will

Solomon had a shot blocked in the lane and then Jurkunas missed a 10-footer

from the baseline.

Scott hit two free throws to cut the lead to 62-58 with 3:09 left, but

Jurkunas threw the ball away on Clemson's next trip down the floor. Solomon

missed a 3-pointer, Adam Allenspach missed a shot from the top of the key

and Jurkunas missed another 3-pointer before Allenspach tipped in Jurkunas'

miss with 56 seconds left.

By then North Carolina had stretch its lead to 12 points.

"I thought we were getting shot after shot that we liked," said Shyatt. "We

were getting wide open looks."

North Carolina meanwhile went to the line for eight of its points during the

12-2 run. The Tar Heels survived like the Tar Heels of old even if this

isn't a typical North Carolina team.

"They're a lot better now than when we played them in January (a 20-point

win by North Carolina)," said head coach Bill Guthridge. "It's hard stopping

(Will) Solomon. Toward the end, we didn't a good job. We getting up on him

more and when he drove, our big guys did a good job stopping him."

Solomon, who was guarded by freshman Joseph Forte most of the afternoon,

scored 26. However, just 10 came in the second half. He had eight points

during Clemson's 13-2 run that cut the lead to two. Solomon hit two

3-pointers and a runner in the lane. He missed all three shots he took in

the final seven minutes.

"Forte started guarding Solomon closer," said Guthridge. "Our guys did a

good job because Solomon is a handful."

North Carolina had a five-point lead (35-30) at the half after Ed Cota, who

led his team with 17 points, hit a 3-pointer with three seconds left in the

half. North Carolina then started the second half by hitting its first four

shots to take a 44-32 lead with 16:48 left.

"In the first five minutes of the half, we had four wide open looks and they

did too," said Shyatt. "They hit theirs and we didn't. I would like to think

Carolina had something to do with that."

So would Bill Guthridge, who was hoping his team would show to tendencies of

old.

"This was an important game for us," he said. "Extra important. We needed a

road win. Hopefully we can build on it."

NORTH CAROLINA


                          FG   3PT   FT    Reb


 No Player           Min  M-A   M-A  M-A   O-D-T   A PF ST TO BK PTS


 00 Brendan Haywood   31  3-4   0-0  5-6   3-5-8   3  3  0  0  1  11


 25 Jason Capel       34  5-9   4-5  0-0   0-4-4   1  2  0  1  1  14


 42 Kris Lang         28  5-10  0-0  2-3   0-4-4   0  2  0  1  1  12


  5 Ed Cota           39  6-10  1-3  4-5   0-6-6   7  1  1  3  0  17


 40 Joseph Forte      30  3-8   1-4  4-4   0-6-6   2  3  0  2  1  11


 24 Max Owens         10  1-2   1-2  3-4   0-0-0   0  0  0  0  0   6


  0 Julius Peppers    18  1-1   0-0  0-0   0-1-1   0  0  0  1  0   2


 44 Will Johnson       4  0-0   0-0  0-0   0-1-1   0  1  0  0  0   0


 21 Terrence Newby     2  0-1   0-0  0-0   0-0-0   1  0  0  1  0   0


 11 Michael Brooker    1  0-0   0-0  0-0   0-0-0   0  0  0  0  0   0


 14 Jon Holmes         1  0-1   0-1  0-0   0-0-0   0  0  0  0  0   0


 32 Orlando Melendez   1  0-0   0-0  0-0   0-0-0   0  0  0  1  0   0


  0 Jim Everett        1  0-0   0-0  0-0   0-1-1   0  1  0  0  0   0


    Totals           200 24-46 7-15 18-22 3-28-31 14 13  1 10  4  73







     Percentages: FG .522, 3PT .467, FT .818.


     Team Rebounds: 3.


     Team Turnovers: 0.







CLEMSON


                          FG   3PT  FT   Reb


 No Player           Min  M-A   M-A M-A  O-D-T   A PF ST TO BK PTS


 55 Adam Allenspach   28  2-9   0-1 0-0  2-2-4   2  3  1  3  0   4


  3 Andrius Jurkunas  35  2-10  1-8 0-0  2-1-3   3  3  1  2  2   5


 42 Chucky Gilmore    31  3-5   0-0 4-4  1-3-4   1  2  0  0  0  10


 15 Will Solomon      36 10-18  6-7 0-1  1-1-2   1  4  1  0  0  26


 10 Ed Scott          36  3-9   1-6 2-2  0-3-3   3  2  1  0  0   9


 24 Dustin Braddick   24  2-5   0-2 0-0  0-2-2   3  0  1  0  0   4


 21 Ray Henderson      6  1-2   0-0 0-0  0-5-5   0  3  0  1  0   2


 33 Pasha Bains        4  0-0   0-0 0-0  0-1-1   0  1  0  0  0   0


    Totals           200 23-58 8-24 6-7 6-18-24 13 18  5  6  2  60







     Percentages: FG .397, 3PT .333, FT .857.


     Team Rebounds: 1.


     Team Turnovers: 0.







North Carolina 35 38-73


Clemson        30 30-60

Officials-Karl Hess, Mike Wood, Leslie Jones.

A-10,300

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