No. 10 Duke stuns No. 5 UNC, 85-84

CHAPEL HILL: Austin Rivers pulled up, launched a high-arcing 3-pointer — and shot No. 10 Duke right back to the top of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The freshman capped the Blue Devils’ furious rally with a buzzerbeater that gave them an 85-84 win over No. 5 North Carolina on Wednesday night — and just might have put their season back on track.

A few days earlier, Duke was reeling after a home loss to Miami — its second defeat in a stretch of three home games.

Just that quickly, the Blue Devils find themselves sharing first place in the league with Florida State and a Tar Heels team they stunned by storming back from 10 points down in the final 3 minutes.

“This could be a huge momentum thing for our team right now,” Rivers said.

Rivers finished with a seasonhigh 29 points — a Duke freshman record for points scored against North Carolina — and his six of the Blue Devils’ season hightying 14 3-pointers. The last came over 7-footer Tyler Zeller with the Blue Devils (20-4, 7-2) trailing by two in the final seconds.

With teammate Seth Curry in the corner screaming at him to shoot, Rivers let the shot fly over Zeller’s outstretched hand with about a second left and it swished through the net after the buzzer sounded.

That sent the freshman running down the court in celebration while the Blue Devils mobbed him and the North Carolina crowd could only watch in disbelief. It also sent his dad, Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers, into jubilant celebration in the stands.