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Tar Heels top Blue Devils
Duke has no answer for Hansbrough or Lawson
AP Photo
Duke's Kyle Singler (12) and David McClure try to stop North Carolina's Ty Lawson (5).
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Published: February 12, 2009
DURHAM - North Carolina stormed past Duke in a near-perfect second half last night at Cameron Indoor Stadium to take over first place outright in the ACC.
UNC won 101-87, its fourth consecutive win on Duke's home floor. Ty Lawson, UNC's point guard, led a scorching attack that outscored Duke 44-19 in the first 16:18 after halftime and wiped out Duke's 52-44 halftime lead.
Lawson scored 25 points, with 21 coming in the second half. Midway through the half Lawson took over the game and started blowing past Greg Paulus, Nolan Smith and any other Duke defender that guarded him for baskets or passes to teammates for shots.
"Basically we opened up the floor because we didn't have any driving lanes," said Danny Green, a UNC forward. "We had a lot of guys clogging up the middle and Ty wasn't able to work. Ty's at his best when he's able to penetrate."
Lawson led the run that put away the decision in the final 7:41. UNC led 74-71 and went on a 14-0 scoring surge for an 88-71 lead with 3:42 left.
He started the run by driving Paulus low to the right side and banking in a six-foot jumper. He ended it by sticking in a layup, drawing a foul from David McClure and making the free throw. Lawson had nine of the 14 points.
Paulus took responsibility for Lawson's second-half eruption.
"He was a little bit more aggressive," Paulus said. "He made some good plays and good finishes. I didn't do as good a job handling him in the second half."
The run also included a clutch basket by Tyler Hansbrough, UNC's senior center. UNC was up 80-71 when Lawson had the ball on the right wing. He was caught by the defense with the shot clock running down and pitched the ball to Hansbrough.
Hansbrough knew little time was left. He stepped back from David McClure and fired a 3-pointer from in front of the UNC bench with two seconds left on the shot clock.
The shot was reminiscent of his 3-pointer from the top of the key as a freshman in an 83-76 win here.
UNC improved 22-2 overall and 8-2 in the ACC with its eighth consecutive conference victory. No opposing senior class had won four consecutive games in Cameron since 1997 when Tim Duncan's Wake Forest class completed a sweep.
"There was a lot of pressure coming into that game, with all the history and the accomplishments made in the past, that people didn't think we'd be able to do it," Green said. "Any time winning in here feels great, but to win four, to leave as a senior undefeated in here is very fortunate."
Hansbrough said winning four times in Cameron was an honor.
"This is a really tough place to play," Hansbrough said. "I didn't think we played our best basketball tonight, but you just have to come out and play. Leading up to the game I was so hyped up. I didn't want to think about the record. We just wanted to focus on the game."
Hansbrough and Green joined Duncan and Rusty LaRue of Wake Forest as the only players to play in four wins over Duke in Cameron when Mike Krzyzewski was the Duke coach.
Duke fell to 20-4 and 7-3. Paulus suffered his fourth loss to UNC at home in his career, a development he found stunning given the history of success in Duke's program.
"It hurts; it really does," Paulus said. "I don't get another chance to do it at home."
All five of UNC's starters scored at least 12 points. Hansbrough followed Lawson with 17 points. Lawson's playmaking helped UNC shoot 59.4 percent from the field after halftime and scored 100 points against Duke for the first time since the 1995 season.
UNC won 102-100 at Cameron in ‘95 in two overtimes.
UNC scored 100 points on Duke in regulation for the first time since the 1983 season in taking a 105-81 win at Cameron. UNC's points are the most Duke has allowed in any game since the 1995 season.
Kyle Singler led Duke with 22 points and Jon Scheyer added 20. Duke shot 36.1 percent from the field after halftime and missed 10 of its first 11 3-point shots in the second half in falling behind. It shot 61.8 percent in the first half in building its halftime lead.
Duke tore into UNC to wipe out a 29-18 lead in the first half in five minutes' playing time. Duke took its first lead of the game 36-34 on Paulus' 3-pointer and kept running its offense with almost textbook execution.
Duke made 13 of its last 20 shots in the half, including a run of seven baskets in eight attempts in taking the lead. Duke ended the half on a 34-15 scoring run.
Its energy and smooth play could not be sustained after halftime. UNC caught up at 58-58 on Hansbrough's dunk and took the lead for good at 67-65 when Wayne Ellington buried a 3-pointer with 10:59 left.
"You come to Duke to win these games," Paulus said. "We gave it our best effort. They deserve a lot of credit. We knew we missed some shots and had a couple of turnovers. We didn't have as good a motion as we had in the first half."
■ Bill Cole can be reached at bcole@wsjournal.com.
UNC Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF PT
Green 24 5-9 4-4 0-5 2 4 15
Thompson 24 5-10 2-2 3-4 0 2 12
Hansbrough 33 6-9 4-6 2-6 1 4 17
Lawson 34 8-11 9-9 1-4 5 1 25
Ellington 34 4-15 6-8 1-7 2 2 15
Frasor 27 3-4 0-0 0-2 2 2 9
Drew II 7 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Davis 14 3-4 2-2 3-4 0 2 8
Copeland 3 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0
Totals 200 34-62 27-31 12-36 13 17 101
Percentages: FG .548, FT .871. 3-Point Goals: 6-15, .400 (Frasor 3-4, Hansbrough 1-1, Green 1-3, Ellington 1-6, Lawson 0-1). Team Rebounds: 3. Blocked Shots: 2 (Davis, Hansbrough). Turnovers: 15 (Lawson 5, Green 3, Hansbrough 2, Drew II 2, Ellington, Thompson, Davis). Steals: 8 (Ellington 3, Lawson 2, Davis, Thompson, Green). Technical Fouls: None.
DUKE Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF PT
Singler 33 9-15 1-3 3-6 3 3 22
Henderson 34 7-16 2-4 0-3 2 4 17
Thomas 20 2-4 1-3 4-6 0 2 5
Paulus 28 3-5 0-0 1-2 3 3 8
Scheyer 33 6-15 6-7 1-2 4 1 20
Smith 22 5-9 1-1 1-5 2 4 11
McClure 21 1-3 0-0 1-2 3 4 2
Zoubek 9 1-3 0-0 3-4 1 2 2
Totals 200 34-70 11-18 14-31 18 23 87
Percentages: FG .486, FT .611. 3-Point Goals: 8-24, .333 (Singler 3-5, Paulus 2-3, Scheyer 2-7, Henderson 1-6, McClure 0-1, Smith 0-2). Team Rebounds: 1. Blocked Shots: 3 (McClure, Zoubek, Henderson). Turnovers: 15 (Henderson 4, Scheyer 3, Smith 3, Paulus 2, Thomas, Singler). Steals: 12 (Paulus 4, Smith 2, Singler 2, McClure 2, Scheyer 2). Technical Fouls: Singler.
North Carolina 44 57 -- 101
Duke 52 35 -- 87
A--9,314
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