By Joedy McCreary
Associated Press
CHAPEL HILL ó Wayne Ellington started knocking down 3-pointers, and the rest of his teammates soon followed: Danny Green, Ty Lawson ó even star big man Tyler Hansbrough.
It all added up to North Carolina’s best game from long range in quite a while.
Ellington scored a season-high 34 points and hit seven of his team’s season-high 16 3s in the third-ranked Tar Heels’ sixth straight victory, a 108-91 rout of Maryland on Tuesday night.
Hansbrough had 24 points ó including a late 3 over defender Dave Neal ó and Lawson added 21 and four 3s for North Carolina (20-2, 6-2 ACC).
“We just came out and were hitting shots ó not just myself, but Danny was hitting shots, Tywan was hitting shots from the perimeter,” Ellington said. “We just kept it rolling.”
The ACC’s hottest team used some early long-distance touch to clinch their fifth straight 20-win season under Hall of Fame coach Roy Williams.
Green finished with 16 points for North Carolina, which hit 11 of its first 14 attempts from behind the arc to match the school’s record in a half, and finished one 3-pointer shy of the record for a game set against Florida State in 1995.
“I’ve said a lot of times this year that we can really shoot the ball,” Williams said. “We shot the Dickens out of it tonight.”
They shot 51.4 percent, reached the 100-point mark for the sixth time and snapped a two-game losing streak in the series with their first win against Maryland since 2006.
Freshman Sean Mosley scored a season-high 19 points, Cliff Tucker added 18 and Greivis Vasquez scored 13 for the Terrapins (14-8, 3-5), who hoped to draw some confidence from their return to the arena where last year they became the first team to beat the then-No. 1 Tar Heels.
They only briefly led this time and were handed their sixth loss in nine games since Jan. 3, falling to 0-4 on the road with a second straight blowout loss on Tobacco Road. Two weeks ago, they were routed by 41 points at Duke after allowing the Blue Devils to make 48 percent of their 3s.
With the Tar Heels flashing an even more potent touch from long range, the Terps didn’t stand a chance.