Wofford staggers North Carolina
WOFFORD 79, NO. 5 NORTH CAROLINA 75
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Fletcher Magee scored 27 points to help Wofford stun No. 5 North Carolina 79-75 on Wednesday night, snapping the reigning national champion’s 23-game home winning streak.
The Terriers (8-4) led the entire second half and by as many as 14 points before holding off UNC’s late-game run for a huge road victory and their first over a ranked team in 24 games.
The Tar Heels (10-2) got within a point twice and missed four three-pointers for the tie in the final 6 minutes. But they never could overtake the Terriers, who played confidently and kept counter-punching every time UNC made a run.
The Terriers closed it out with four consecutive free throws in the final 15.2 seconds to seal it, then mobbed each other at midcourt as the horn sounded and the Tar Heels headed to the locker room.
Joel Berry II scored 23 points to lead UNC, which suffered its first loss to an unranked team while ranked in the top five since falling to Boston College in January 2009.
Wofford was picked to finish sixth in the Southern Conference. But Magee and the Terriers closed the first half on an 8-0 run to take a 34-33 lead, then made 10 of 15 shots out of the break to steal momentum and put UNC in catch-up mode. More importantly, they never folded even as the Tar Heels kept inching closer and closer.
This wasn’t the way the Tar Heels wanted to follow a tough weekend road victory at No. 21 Tennessee. They spent much of the game missing shots and struggling to get consistent defensive stops. Luke Maye struggled offensively (17 points on 4-for-16 shooting) and UNC finished the game shooting just 36 percent.
In other Top 25/SEC men’s games Wednesday, freshman Wendell Carter Jr. scored a season-best 27 points, and No. 4 Duke routed Evansville 104-40. Marvin Bagley III added 18 points and Grayson Allen finished with 16 to help the Blue Devils (12-1) bounce back from their lone loss with one of their best defensive performances of the season. Dainius Chatkevicius had 12 points to lead the Purple Aces (10-3). Duke blocked 9 shots, forced a season-best 21 turnovers and turned them into 39 points against a slow-paced Evansville team. Dainius Chatkevicius had 12 points to lead the Purple Aces (10-3), who had their five-game winning streak snapped. Evansville entered allowing an average of 61.9 points per game. The Blue Devils nearly had that at halftime, leading 58-18 the break. Gary Trent Jr. scored 13 points to help Duke put this one out of reach early. … Teddy Allen scored a career-high 24 points and grabbed 9 rebounds as No. 10 West Virginia beat winless Coppin State 77-38. The Mountaineers (10-1) struggled in the first 10 minutes of the game, shooting 5 of 23 over the first 13 minutes. Allen then led West Virginia to a 15-1 run to close the first half to take a 42-18 lead over the Eagles (0-12). … Manu Lecomte scored 22 points and No. 18 Baylor won its fifth consecutive, 80-60 over Southern. The Bears (10-2) shot 63 percent from the field (31 for 49), including 11 for 22 from three-point range. Jared Sam led the Jaguars (3-9) with 21 points, and Jamar Sandifer had 14. … Grant Williams scored a tiebreaking basket with 54 seconds left as No. 21 Tennessee outlasted Furman 66-61 to snap the Paladins’ fivegame winning streak. Jordan Bowden led the Volunteers (8-2) with 21 points. Sibley had 22 points for Furman (9-4). … Khadeen Carrington scored 26 points and Angel Delgado added 15 points and 10 rebounds, leading No. 23 Seton Hall to an 89-68 victory over Wagner. The Pirates (10-2) also received 16 points from Myles Powell, 11 from Desi Rodriguez and 10 from Michael Nzei. Jo Jo Cooper paced Wagner (7-3) with 15 points and Nigel Jackson added 12. … Marcus Foster scored 16 points and No. 25 Creighton shot nearly 70 percent during a 58-point first half in a 116-62 victory over South Carolina Upstate. Creighton (10-2) won its fifth consecutive game. South Carolina Upstate (4-11) remained winless in nine road games this season. … Chris Chiozza scored 19 points, KeVaughn Allen (North Little Rock) added 17 and Florida ended a two-game, home-losing streak with a 72-63 victory against James Madison. Jalen Hudson chipped in 10 points for Florida (7-4), which made 10 threes. The Dukes (49) led early and were in the game most of the night, but never looked like they would pull off an upset. … Matthew Fisher-Davis scored 19 points, including 5 three-pointers, and Vanderbilt ended a three-game losing streak with an 81-48 victory over Houston Baptist. Jeff Roberson scored 17 points and 10 rebounds for Vanderbilt (4-7). Houston Baptist (49) fell to 0-8 on the road after and shot just 26 percent (16 of 61) from the field.