WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) - It has been hard to beat North
Carolina's execution down the stretch the last two months.
Joseph Forte scored 24 points as the top-ranked Tar Heels shot
54 percent en route to an 80-74 victory over Wake Forest (No. 15 ESPN/USA Today, No. 19 AP) on
Tuesday night.
|  | | UNC's Joseph Forte hit an off-balance 17-footer and two free throws in the final 1:12 to help the Tar Heels win their 17th in a row. |
"I think we understand how to win," said Forte, who also had
six rebounds and five steals. "The last three minutes we could be
playing equal to the other team, but if the game is close our guys
are going to pull it out."
Wake Forest coach Dave Odom believed his team played good enough
and hard enough to knock off the Tar Heels. But then Forte and his
veteran teammates played nearly flawless ball over the final four
minutes.
"I was impressed with North Carolina's ability to get the ball
where they wanted it on offense when they wanted it," Odom said as
he watched the Tar Heels start 6-0 on the road in the Atlantic
Coast Conference for the first time since 1987.
The win extended North Carolina's NCAA record of consecutive
20-win seasons to 31 as the Tar Heels (20-2, 10-0 ACC) also notched
their 17th straight victory despite 20 turnovers.
Wake Forest (15-7, 4-6) led for much of the second half, but
fell apart on both ends of the floor late. After starting the
season 12-0, the Demon Deacons have dropped seven of their last 10.
Forte hit an off-balance jumper with the shot clock on 1 second
and the Tar Heels clinging to a 72-69 lead with 1:12 left, and made
two free throws a half-minute later.
"That was a huge shot," Odom said of Forte's 17-footer.
"Again, great players make great plays at opportune moments and
that certainly was that."
Wake Forest's Craig Dawson scored a career-high 29 points on
14-for-26 shooting, but he couldn't prevent North Carolina from
snapping his team's 14-game home winning streak. Josh Howard added
20 points and 12 rebounds.
Dawson's previous high was 23 points at Temple in December.
The Tar Heels, playing as the nation's top-ranked team for the
first time since March 1998, got 13 points each from Kris Lang,
Brendan Haywood and Jason Capel. Haywood also had six assists and
four blocks.
The Tar Heels trailed 63-58 with 8:08 left before going on a
14-2 run as Lang scored on a hook shot and follow, Haywood had a
slam and layup, and Julius Peppers a dunk as North Carolina went
inside when it counted.
Haywood also had a key block of a follow shot by Howard with
4:33 remaining as North Carolina stretched its lead to seven - which matched its biggest lead in the first half.
North Carolina scored on seven of eight possessions during its
run and its shooting percentage snapped Wake Forest's streak of 30
straight games holding opponents to under 50 percent from the
field.
"It's good to learn from an ugly game," Capel said. "It's
good to learn from a game you probably should have lost. But we can
get better and go back and have some real practices and go out and
break a sweat and get better."
Coach Matt Doherty's team led by one point at halftime,
prompting a speech about the responsibility of being No. 1.
"I told them people will play that much harder and people want
to see you go down," he said. "I think sometimes when you have
that No. 1 tag there is a tendency subconsciously to relax. Even
though you want to fight it, human nature takes over."
Dawson, who had been slumping during ACC play, was 7-for-11 in
the first half for 15 points to keep the Demon Deacons in the hunt.
North Carolina's biggest lead of the half was seven before
Dawson had five points in an 11-2 run as neither team could build a
double-digit margin as the Tar Heels coughed up the ball 11 times.
The Demon Deacons, plagued by foul trouble during their
monthlong slump, didn't pick one up until 8:23 was gone and
finished the half with just six.
But North Carolina was 9-for-20 from 3-point range to outscore
the Demon Deacons 27-6 from beyond the arc and matched its longest
winning streak since it started the 1997-98 season 17-0.
|
|
ALSO SEE
Men's College Basketball Scoreboard
North Carolina Clubhouse
Wake Forest Clubhouse
|
