• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

North Carolina pulls away for 10th straight win

Feb 19, 2009 - 5:15 AM CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Tyler Hansbrough and North Carolina's offense got back on track Wednesday.

Hansbrough scored 27 points and Danny Green had 19 as third-ranked North Carolina used a strong second half to defeat North Carolina State, 89-80, in an Atlantic Coast Conference contest.

Ty Lawson added 17 points and nine assists and Wayne Ellington scored 16 for the Tar Heels (24-2, 10-2 ACC), who shot 63 percent (20-of-32) over the final 20 minutes.

"I thought two things in the second half were really big for us," UNC coach Roy Williams said. "We had eight turnovers at half and in the second half we only had one, which really helped us to be very efficient offensively. I think that was probably the biggest part of the game and we were able to withstand the fact that we didn't do a very good job of guarding them on the other end."

The school's all-time leading scorer, Hansbrough tied a season low with eight points in North Carolina's 69-65 victory over Miami on Sunday. The 69 points were also a season low for the Tar Heels, who average better than 91 per contest.

It was the Tar Heels' 10th straight win after opening the conference schedule with two straight losses. They have a 2 1/2-game lead over four teams tied for second at 7-4.

"I like the progress of our team better than my descriptive phrases," Williams said. "But, it's the ACC; it's not easy. Regardless of what you think, North Carolina can't make somebody turn it over fifty times in the ACC. Regardless what you think, North Carolina can't shut out somebody in the ACC. Regardless of what you think, this is a tough league."

North Carolina led by three at the break but, after missing its first two shots to open the second half, connected on eight straight from the field as it started to create some separation.

Hansbrough and Green each converted a three-point play as the Tar Heels used a 14-0 run to take a 53-38 advantage with 16:25 to play.

N.C. State (14-10, 4-7) fought back, closing within 63-57 on Dennis Horner's shot from the arc midway through the second half - but that would be as close as the Wolfpack would get.

Ellington scored the final nine points during a 14-2 run as the Tar Heels extended their lead to 77-59 with 6:11 remaining. N.C. State never threatened again but scored the final 10 points to make the final look more respectable.

"I thought we had a good first half, we came out with good energy and kept ourselves in the ballgame," Wolfpack coach Sidney Lowe said. "Second half, they made their run, we made a couple of turnovers, a couple of second shots for them, and they were able to pull away from us.

"I thought all in all it wasn't bad. I thought our guys gave a pretty good effort, but we turned it over a couple of times crucially and gave them an opportunity to get out and run on us."

UNC freshman Tyler Zeller, who had not played since the second game of the season with a broken left wrist, had two points and three rebounds in nine minutes. The 7-footer was expected to miss the rest of the campaign.

"It feels great to be back out there," Zeller said. "I'm a little behind on just reaction speeds and getting places, that's kind of why I got so many fouls."

Javier Gonzalez matched a career high with 18 points and Tracy Smith had 15 and nine rebounds to pace N.C. State, which made 11-of-20 attempts from the arc.

"I thought Javy played well ... but (UNC) is an experienced team," Lowe said. "It's a team that knows how to win and they know those times when you have to turn it up to try to get (control) - and they did in those first five minutes (of the second half)."