Tar Heels defeat Duke to end skid

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Joel Berry II scored 21 points, and No. 21 North Carolina rallied from 12 down in the first half to beat No. 9 Duke 82-78 in Thursday’s renewal of the fierce Atlantic Coast Conference rivalry.

Kenny Williams made six 3-pointers and matched his career high with 20 points for the Tar Heels (18-7, 7-5), who roared out of halftime with a 16-2 run that erased what was left of Duke’s early lead.

Cameron Johnson added 18 points and 13 rebounds, helping the Tar Heels overcome the Blue Devils’ significant size advantage to own the glass, 28-17, after halftime.

North Carolina led by as many as 10, but Duke cut it to 74-71 late. The Tar Heels did just enough to hang on, though, and Theo Pinson punctuated the win with a dunk off the press break with 11.1 seconds left to seal it.

Gary Trent Jr. scored 16 points to lead the Blue Devils (19-5, 7-4), who have lost two straight.

They were coming off Saturday’s loss to a St. John’s team that was 0-11 in the Big East — the Red Storm stunningly followed that with a road upset of No. 1 Villanova on Wednesday night — which was a performance coach Mike Krzyzewski described as “disgusting” and not up to the program’s standards.

It looked like Duke was ready to bounce back in the first half Thursday, but the Blue Devils couldn’t match North Carolina’s second-half edge.

The Tar Heels hadn’t played particularly well coming in. They entered on their first three-game losing streak in nearly four years, with their only win in the past two-plus weeks coming against Pittsburgh, which is now 0-12 in the ACC.

But Thursday’s run after halftime — and their composure for much of the second half, for that matter — was some of the best basketball the Tar Heels have played in weeks.