• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

NCAA Game Summary - Maryland vs. North Carolina

Mar 10, 2012 - 12:08 AM Atlanta, GA (Sports Network) - Reggie Bullock and Harrison Barnes led a balanced North Carolina attack with 15 points apiece, as the fourth-ranked Tar Heels led from start to finish in an 85-69 victory over Maryland in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament.

North Carolina played most of the contest without star forward John Henson. The ACC's Defensive Player of the Year suffered an injured left wrist early in the first half when he tried to brace himself after taking a hard foul from Maryland's Ashton Pankey. Henson had the wrist taped and returned to the contest, but quickly exited again after pain in the wrist persisted.

"They don't think it's a break," said North Carolina head coach Roy Williams. "He just had trouble catching and gripping the basketball. So, he didn't feel comfortable. If he had felt comfortable catching and gripping the basketball, we would have allowed him to play."

Tyler Zeller finished with 14 points and seven rebounds for North Carolina (28-4), while Kendall Marshall contributed 13 points with 12 assists. James Michael McAdoo helped fill Henson's void and chipped in 14 points with eight boards.

The Tar Heels, who earned the top seed with last Saturday's victory at Duke, will play NC State in a Saturday semifinal.

Terrell Stoglin poured in 30 points for Maryland (17-15), which topped Wake Forest in the first round on Thursday.

North Carolina scored the first four points of the game en route to a quick 7-2 lead. A Bullock three-pointer gave the Tar Heels an 18-8 cushion just over five minutes into the contest.

Maryland clawed back and a transition layup by Nick Faust made it 22-19 near the midway point of the first half, but Carolina answered with the next six points and the Terrapins got only as close as six on a few occasions before the Tar Heels took a 36-26 advantage to the break.

Bullock hit a pair of three-pointers to start the second half and a dunk by McAdoo soon after extended the Carolina margin to 18.

The Terrapins got as close as seven, 54-47, on a layup by Pankey with just over 12 minutes left and Marshall quickly turned it over to give Maryland a chance to cut its deficit further. Barnes, though, stole it back and his layup ignited a string of nine straight North Carolina points to create some breathing room.

Two free throws by P.J. Hairston gave the Tar Heels a 63-47 lead with 10:22 to play and Maryland never threatened again. North Carolina, which shot 61.5 percent in the second half, led by as many as 22 in the final minutes.

Game Notes

Henson played seven minutes, none in the second half, and finished with three points and four rebounds...Faust scored 11 points for Maryland, but made only 4-of-13 shots...The Tar Heels own the second-most ACC Tournament championships with 17, trailing Duke by two...North Carolina hasn't won the crown since 2008 and lost last year's title game to the Blue Devils...The only team to win the ACC tourney in the past 15 years, aside from North Carolina and Duke, was Maryland in 2004.