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Charlotte, NC -- Second-seeded North Carolina outran the 15th-seed Long Island University men’s basketball team on Friday night in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Blackbirds drew level with the Tar Heels in the first half, but a 13-2 run gave UNC a lead that it never looked back from. LIU finishes the season at 27-5, matching a Northeast Conference record for single-season victories.
“I thought our kids played their hearts out tonight,” head coach Jim Ferry said. “I thought we competed the best we could. We outrebound people like crazy but it was really hard. I couldn’t be more proud of our guys.”
Long Island used a 12-0 run during a two-minute span to tie the game at the 5:01 mark. Sophomore Jamal Olasewere opened the run with a three-point play, which classmate C.J. Garner followed with consecutive layups. A three-pointer by sophomore Julian Boyd and dunk by sophomore Kenny Onyechi tied the score at 33-33.
“We have been down in games before so we knew that a comeback was in us,” said Boyd. “Once we tied it up, we knew our crowd would keep us in the game.”
North Carolina (27-7) responded with five straight points from Harrison Barnes and quickly stretched the lead back to 46-35. A three-pointer by senior David Hicks as the horn sounded in the first half trimmed the deficit to 53-42.
The Tar Heels scored the first seven points of the second half and appeared to have the game in hand after a layup by Barnes made it 70-49 with 14:04 to play. A three-pointer by freshman Jason Brickman opened a 9-0 spurt for LIU that culminated with consecutive layups by Garner to make it 70-58 with 12:08 remaining.
The UNC lead remained at double-figures, but LIU did close within 77-67 with 9:24 to play on a three-pointer by junior Michael Culpo. The Blackbirds stayed within striking distance with 1:54 to play after three straight foul shots by Culpo and a trifecta from Boyd made it 97-87, but the Tar Heels held LIU scoreless from there and closed out the game at the foul line.
Boyd led the Blackbirds with 18 points and 12 rebounds, while Garner and Olasewere added 16 and 15 points, respectively. Culpo had nine points off the bench and Onyechi added eight points, while Brickman gave out eight assists. LIU shot just 36.5 percent from the field and were limited to 8-of-31 (.258) shooting from the arc.
Tyler Zeller led all players with 32 points, scoring 25 of those after halftime. John Henson added 28 points, 11 rebounds and six blocked shots, while Harrison Barnes had 24 points and 16 rebounds. The Tar Heels shot 50.7 percent from the field, despite going 3-of-17 from the arc. UNC held a 54-39 rebounding edge.
North Carolina advances to face Washington in the third round on Sunday.
Notes: Long Island had its 13-game win streak snapped… The 101 points was the most allowed by LIU since surrendering 101 at Sacred Heart on Feb. 7, 2009… The Blackbirds fell to 23-2 in 2010-11 when scoring at least 80 points… Senior Kyle Johnson finished his career 11th on LIU’s all-time scoring list (1,433 points), while Hicks tied for 19th with 1,157 points.