UNC needs OT to take down Louisville

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, February 2, 2022

Associated Press

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Brady Manek scored 24 points and Armando Bacot scored 19 points and grabbed a career-high 22 rebounds and North Carolina beat Louisville in a 90-83 overtime thriller on Tuesday night.

Leaky Black’s 3-pointer with 2:10 left in the extra session broke an 81-all tie and North Carolina led the rest of the way.

The final 1:10 was highlighted by a pair of technical fouls against Louisville that led to four-made foul shots for North Carolina to seal the win.

Jae’Lyn Withers was whistled for a dead ball contact technical foul when officials ruled he shoved Bacot to the floor after the whistle blew when Bacot and Louisville’s Matt Cross got tied up for a loose ball with 1:10 left. Caleb Love sank the technicals for an 86-81 Carolina lead.

Noah Locke responded with two foul shots for the Cardinals with 59 seconds to go to reduce the deficit to three.

North Carolina turned it over, and on the Cardinal’s ensuing possession, Cross’ deep, straight-on 3 attempt hit the rim and ricocheted to the left baseline. On the bounce, however, Louisville’s Syndey Curry was called for an offensive foul boxing out Bacot. In his irate response, Cardinals interim head coach Mike Pegues was called for a technical foul upon slamming his hand on the scorer’s table.

Love then sank two technical foul shots and Bacot made 1 of 2 foul shots for the whistle drawn on Curry for an 89-83 advantage. Love made 1 of 2 with five seconds to go for the game’s final margin.

In regulation, after Bacot threw down a dunk to give North Carolina a 55-45 lead with 12:35 remaining, Louisville went on a shooting spree when El Ellis sank three 3s’ and Cross another to give Louisville a 57-55 advantage. Neither team led by more than four points to end regulation.

Withers came up with spectacular block on R.J. Davis’ wide-open layup attempt to send it to OT tied at 74.

Ellis scored a career-high 25 points with a career-high five 3s for Louisville.

The Tar Heels will host ninth-ranked Duke on Saturday to mark the last regular season appearance at Chapel Hill for Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Davidson 81, St. Bonaventure 76

ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — Foster Loyer scored 21 points and Hyunjung Lee scored 18 points and Davidson won its seventh consecutive road game.

Michael Jones scored 17 points and Luka Brajkovic had 13 points and eight rebounds for Davidson (18-3, 8-1 Atlantic 10 Conference).

Jalen Adaway scored 21 points, Kyle Lofton had 19 points  and Dominick Welch scored 18 for the Bonnies (12-6, 4-3).