The third time was not the charm for the Clemson Tigers. North Carolina outran Clemson in an uptempo second half to put away the Tigers and claim the championship of the 55th Annual ACC Basketball Tournament with a 86-81 victory.
The Tigers had played the Tar Heels basically dead even during their two previous regular season meetings and for the first 25 minutes on Sunday afternoon it was more of the same. A Tar Heel run midway through the second half provided the seperation and allowed UNC to hold off a Clemson rally and deny the Tigers their first ever ACC Tournament championship.
North Carolina’s Wayne Ellington finished with 24 points while Tyler Hansbrough had 18. Ty Lawson had 12 points, five rebounds and eight assists for the Tar Heels, who win their second straight ACC Tournament title.
K.C. Rivers finished with 28 points and six 3-pointers for the third-seeded Tigers in the losing effort.
GreensboroSports.com will have NCAA Tournament match-ups for all ACC teams invited to the “Big Dance” later this evening.
ACC Championship Game
CLEMSON (24-9) 39 42 81
UNC (32-2) 38 48 86