Final from this afternoon/Saturday afternoon in Fort Worth, Texas….
North Carolina Tar Heels 93, Baylor Bears 86 OT
The UNC Tar Heels had a 25-point lead in regulation over the Baylor Bears, but with an ejection coming the way of North Carolina’s Brady Maneck, and with UNC losing Caleb Love to fouls, the next thing you know, Baylor makes a second half comeback, and then you look up and the Bears are right back in the game….
The Heels followed the lead of their head coach Hubert Davis, and Carolina kept its composure, and with Heels’ Hall of Famer Roy Williams looking on, North Carolina let Baylor get back in the game, but in Overtime, the Heels took control, and ole Mo/momentum was on the Heels’ side again, as Dontrez(Trey) Styles hit a three-point shot to begin OT, and with the lead in hand, North Carolina never trailed again, and UNC goes on to defeat the Baylor Bears, 93-86…
Composure, composure, composure…..That was the key to the Tar Heel victory…The Heels could have folded like a cheap tent, and in reality they did, but they got a second chance, and while they lost the lead and nearly the entire basketball game earlier on Saturday afternoon, the Heels found themselves and regained the advantage and never let it slip away in the Overtime period…..
RJ Davis was one of the Tar Heels’ key heroes in this contest, scoring a career-high 30 points, to pace North Carolina to the win…Davis hit three 3’s to begin the ball game, he stayed hot throughout the course of the contest….
A very satisfying win/victory for the Tar Heel faithful on this day, and for North Carolina, it is now on to Philadelphia, for the Sweet Sixteen….Must be a nice Spring Break the Tar Heels are experiencing here in the month of March….Oh yes, the Madness of March, and Marchness always means Madness….
from www.goheels.com:
FORT WORTH, TEXAS—RJ Davis scored a career-high 30 points with a nifty layup while being fouled in overtime, and eighth-seeded North Carolina blew a 25-point second-half lead but still found a way to beat defending champion Baylor 93-86 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday.
Brady Manek had a season-high 26 points before getting ejected because of a flagrant foul midway through the second half, right after his 3-pointer had given the Tar Heels (26-9) their largest lead.
A year after going out in the first round of the tourney in retiring coach Roy Williams’ final game, Davis, Armando Bacot and these Tar Heels (26-9) are headed to Philadelphia and a Sweet 16 for first-year coach Hubert Davis.
Davis got his only points in overtime on the off-balance layup with 1:18 left and added the free throw for a 91-85 lead.
Adam Flagler had 27 points for Baylor (27-7), which made only one field goal in overtime. James Akinjo had 20 points while Jeremy Sochan had 15 points and 11 rebounds.
All-ACC power forward Armando Bacot had 15 points and 16 rebounds for North Carolina. After missing three of four free throws in the final 38 seconds of regulation, he made three of five in overtime.
The Tar Heels won as No. 8 seed over a top seed for third time. They did so on the way to the Final Four in 2000, 10 years after after beating top-seeded Oklahoma when Davis was a player for Dean Smith.
Baylor lost in the second round for the second time in the last three NCAA tourneys. The Bears, who fell to top-seeded Gonzaga in the round of 32 three years ago, were trying to match the biggest comeback ever in an NCAA Tournament game.
Manek, the graduate transfer from Oklahoma of the Big 12, was ejected with 10:08 left after his left elbow to the face of Sochan as they were battling underneath the Baylor basket. Manek had just drained a 3-pointer that put the Tar Heels ahead 67-42.
With Manek out, and Caleb Love fouling out soon after that, the Tar Heels had 10 turnovers as Baylor turned up the pressure and made a furious rally.
The Bears got within 76-73 on a three-point play with 1:48 left by Akinjo, who had another one with 16 seconds left to tie the game at 80-80. North Carolina had one more shot, but Davis’ 3-point try hit off the front of the rim.
UP NEXT
North Carolina will play either UCLA or Saint Mary’s in the Sweet 16.