Tar Heels need OT to beat Seminoles

Tyler Hansbrough pulled down a career-high 21 rebounds in the win.

(Sunday, February 3rd) Final Score: (4) North Carolina 84, Florida State 73 (OT)

Tallahassee, FL  - Tyler Hansbrough scored 22 points and yanked down a career-high 21 rebounds as fourth-ranked North Carolina survived the loss of point guard Ty Lawson and a furious late rally from Florida State to down the Seminoles, 84-73, in overtime.

Danny Green added 19 points for the Tar Heels (21-1, 6-1 ACC), who have won three in a row after losing to Maryland on January 19. Deon Thompson added 11 points for North Carolina.

Lawson left the game with a sprained left ankle just 3:47 into the first half and did not return. He scored four points in just under four minutes of action before his injury.

After the Seminoles tied the game in the final seconds of regulation, North Carolina held a 70-69 edge with 2:53 left in overtime. Green drove to the bucket and hit an acrobatic layup while being fouled, then converted the free throw to give North Carolina a four-point lead.

Hansbrough then followed up a Marcus Ginyard miss with a tip-in to put the Tar Heels up, 75-69, with 2:09 remaining. Toney Douglas hit a pair of free throws with just under two minutes left to cut the Seminoles’ deficit to four, but Hansbrough’s hook shot with 1:28 left pushed the Carolina lead back to six.

Douglas then missed a three, and the Tar Heels went 7-for-8 from the charity stripe in the final minute to escape Tallahassee with a win.

Jason Rich scored 22 points to pace Florida State (13-10, 2-6 ACC), which has lost three in a row and six of seven. Douglas and Isaiah Swann each added 12 points for the Seminoles, who finished just 6-for-31 from three-point range.

With FSU trailing by eight with less than two minutes to go, Swann hit a three with 1:53 left in regulation, then Douglas hit a free throw and a jumper to cut the UNC lead to two. Wayne Ellington then made 1-of-2 from the line to give UNC a 67-64 lead

However, Ryan Reid picked up the rebound off a miss by Swann, and nailed a three from the baseline with 8.1 seconds left to tie the game. The three- pointer was Reid’s first ever collegiate attempt from beyond the arc.

The Tar Heels failed to get a shot off before time expired to win the game in regulation, as the Seminoles finished the second half on a 9-1 run.

The game was tight throughout the first half, and while the Tar Heels led by as many as seven points in the early going, they played sloppy in Lawson’s absence, turning the ball over 11 times in the half. However, Quentin Thomas’ layup 43 seconds before intermission sent North Carolina to the locker room ahead 31-29.

Florida State took the lead early in the second half, but after a pair of Hansbrough free throws gave UNC a 38-37 lead, Green canned a three to put the Tar Heels up by four.

The Seminoles tied the game, but were unable to take the lead as the Tar Heels slowly began to pull away. Hansbrough’s first basket of the game, a turnaround jumper with 9:42 left, put North Carolina on top 52-45 to cap off a 9-2 run.

Florida State, though used an 11-5 spurt to cut the Tar Heels’ lead to a single point after a layup from Rich with 4:55 to go. North Carolina was once again able to respond, scoring nine of the next 11 points to take a 66-58 lead.

Game Notes

North Carolina hosts third-ranked Duke on Wednesday…Hansbrough made 12-of-14 at the free throw line and became the Tar Heels’ all-time leader in career free throws made…North Carolina more than doubled Florida State’s rebound total, 54-26…Douglas’ 12 points came on 3-of-20 shooting…North Carolina turned the ball over 21 times, all of them coming after Lawson left the game.

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