College basketball: Tar Heels hold off Florida State
2/4/2008TALLAHASSEE - Florida State had a miracle shot yesterday. North Carolina still had Tyler Hansbrough.
The junior forward had 22 points and a career-high 21 rebounds to lift the fourth-ranked Tar Heels to an 84-73 overtime victory over the Seminoles.
North Carolina (21-1, 6-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) shook off an unlikely 3-pointer by Florida State's Ryan Reid with 8.1 seconds left that sent the game into overtime.
"We expected a fight, but we didn't expect it to be that close," said North Carolina's Danny Green, whose three-point play with 2:53 left in the overtime ignited the 10-2 run that doomed the Seminoles (13-10, 2-6).
The shot that tied the game was the first 3-point attempt of Reid's career and the 6-foot-9 sophomore drained it from deep in the corner with aplomb.
"I saw that I really couldn't pass the ball to anyone so I shot the 3," said Reid, who admitted he more-or-less wished the ball into the basket.
"In my head: 'Just get in there,'•" Reid said. "It got in!"
And when North Carolina couldn't even get a shot off in the final seconds of regulation, the Tar Heels were staring at overtime before a raucous crowd already roaring about Reid's unexpected heroics.
"You can't do anything about that," North Carolina coach Roy Williams said. "When things aren't pretty you can still find a way to win."
And by then, Florida State's big men were all in foul trouble from trying to contain the 6-9 Hansbrough inside.
"In the second half he just kept fighting his way through," Florida State's Uche Echefu said. "He just keeps going, no matter what."
Echefu, Reid and freshman Julian Vaughn - who took turns guarding Hansbrough - all fouled out in the overtime.
Held to just three free throws in the first half and no field goals for more than 30 minutes, Hansbrough had eight points and five rebounds in the overtime.
"He's such a relentless player that he finds a way," Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said.
North Carolina point guard Ty Lawson, who is averaging 14.1 points and 6.0 assists, sprained his left ankle four minutes into the game after colliding with the 240-pound Reid underneath the North Carolina basket.
Green scored 19 points and Deon Thompson had 11 for North Carolina, which overcame 21 turnovers, the loss of Lawson and a mediocre 42.6 percent shooting effort.
Hansbrough, the ACC's leading scorer and rebounder, was held without a field goal until
9:43 remained in the game. He was just 5-of-14 from the field, but was 10-of-12 at the free throw line. The Tar Heels made 27 of 33 free throws.
Jason Rich led the Seminoles with 22 points while Isaiah Swann and Toney Douglas added 12 each, although Douglas was just 3-of-20 from the field.
No. 11 Indiana 75,
Northwestern 63
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Eric Gordon scored 29 points and D.J. White added 26 for the Hoosiers who pulled away in the closing minutes.
It was Indiana's 35th straight win at home against Northwestern since 1968 and it snapped a two-game losing streak for the Hoosiers (18-3, 7-1 Big Ten).
Northwestern (7-12, 0-8) cut Indiana's lead to 52-50 with under 12 minutes to go. The Wildcats, who shot 64 percent in the first half, then went cold and did not get another field goal until a 3-pointer by Michael Thompson with just over two minutes remaining.
Indiana took a 66-52 lead on Gordon's sixth 3-pointer of the game, and one of two free throws by the freshman guard, the Big Ten's leading scorer. Northwestern, losing its 14th straight Big Ten game over two seasons, never came closer than 10 points the rest of the game.
Craig Moore led the Wildcats with 17 points.
No. 13 Wisconsin 63,
Minnesota 47
MINNEAPOLIS - Trevon Hughes had 20 points and six steals to lead Wisconsin to its 12th win in 13 games.
Marcus Landry and Brian Butch each added 11 points for the Badgers (18-3, 8-1 Big Ten), who led 39-23 at halftime and survived an ugly second half in which the Gophers (13-7, 3-5) came no closer than 14 points.
Lawrence Westbrook led Minnesota with 11 points.
Wisconsin came into the weekend allowing an average of 54.5 points, the second-fewest in Division I.