Tar Heels survive

North Carolina isn't done yet.

The struggling Tar Heels held on in four shaky final minutes at the free-throw line to fend off Wake Forest yesterday afternoon and escape from Joel Coliseum with a 77-68 win, its second ACC road victory of the season.

Larry Drew sealed the verdict by coaxing two free throws into the basket with 22.7 seconds left for a 76-68 lead. North Carolina led by 11 points with 4:44 left and was up 69-60 at the two-minute mark, but Drew helped Wake Forest cut into the lead by missing eight of 10 free throws until his two at the end.

Coach Roy Williams took Drew out with 65 seconds left because of his free-throw shooting woes. Williams told Drew that he would have another chance and to be ready.

Drew re-entered the game with 40.9 seconds left, in part because Leslie McDonald was bleeding from a cut on his chin and needed a trainer's attention. Drew was still a little shaky as he went to the line, but the shots finished off the Tar Heels' 1,999th all-time victory.

"I was like, ‘Put these in, man, and stop playing around. Stop letting them back in the game,' " Drew said. "I was just trying to make it interesting, obviously.

"I think half of them I missed felt pretty good. The other half I guess I just wasn't bending my knees and I wasn't getting on my toes enough, and my follow through was a little shaky. Just about everything that could go wrong on a free-throw shot went wrong."

The Tar Heels won for the fourth time in 15 games, improving to 15-14 overall and 4-10 in the ACC. They improved to 2-7 in road games. The Deacons fell to 18-8 and 8-6.

North Carolina led for the final 12:24 after holding a 32-28 halftime lead. It didn't buckle after Wake Forest regained the lead early in the second half, and kept its composure after missed shots and the missed free throws to come up with defensive stops.

Williams said his team handled the game's tough situations better than at almost any time since ACC play started in January. Will Graves said that the Tar Heels had the look of a new team.

"It's not really a weight off our shoulders," Graves said. "If we're going to play like this, we need to keep weight on our shoulders all the time. It's a confidence booster, and it'll give us a lot of confidence going into the ACC Tournament."

McDonald, a freshman, scored 16 points, a career high, and needed stitches to close the cut on his chin. Graves added 13 points, and he and McDonald combined to hit three 3-point shots in the second half to pad North Carolina's lead or maintain it after Wake Forest baskets. Marcus Ginyard grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds and John Henson added 12 rebounds and five blocked shots.

Ari Stewart led cold-shooting Wake Forest with 16 points and L.D. Williams added 14. Ish Smith often got past the defensive wall around the basket, but missed 16 of his 21 shots.

Williams and Stewart were a combined nine of 29 from the field. Wake Forest made 22 of 74 shots, 29.7 percent accuracy.

Coach Dino Gaudio of Wake Forest said that his team got out of its normal offensive flow, missing 52 shots from the field and 16 of 25 3-point attempts.

"We've got to run our offenses a little bit better," Gaudio said. "I think we're trying to put a little too much pressure on guys individually going one on one. I think therein lies the problem on offense.

"I think what we have right now, we're just lacking confidence a little bit. We're lacking confidence in our offensive game and we've got to get that back."

Graves said he thought North Carolina's defense was responsible for Wake Forest's shooting.

The defense started with Drew, who said that his chief responsibility was to keep Smith in front of him and not let him use his blazing speed to get fast-break baskets.

"We played the whole 40 minutes instead of 10," Graves said. "It was a sense of urgency on defense. When we bring our defensive intensity and we make defense our No. 1 priority, and we make it count and show that we care, we're fine."

bcole@wsjournal.com.

UNC Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF Pts

Thmpsn 22 2-7 2-2 2-5 2 2 6

Henson 21 4-6 1-3 5-12 1 1 9

Ginyard 33 3-8 2-2 3-13 3 1 8

Drew II 33 2-6 4-12 1-2 8 0 10

Graves 23 3-8 5-6 2-4 0 3 13

Stricklnd 19 0-5 3-4 0-1 1 2 3

McDnld 23 6-14 2-4 2-4 1 1 16

TWear 12 2-4 0-0 1-1 0 3 4

Zeller 14 4-7 0-0 1-4 0 4 8

Totals 200 26-65 19-33 19-52 16 17 77

Percentages: FG .400, FT .576; 3-Point Goals: 6-16, .375 (Graves 2-4, Drew II 2-4, McDonald 2-5, Strickland 0-3); Team Rebounds: 6; Blocked Shots: 9 (Henson 5, Zeller 2, Graves, Drew II); Turnovers: 12 (Drew II 3, T.Wear 2, Henson, Strickland, Thompson, Graves, Zeller); Steals: 3 (Ginyard, Strickland, Drew II); Technical Fouls: None.

WFU Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF Pts

Aminu 32 2-7 2-4 2-10 1 5 7

Woods 11 3-4 2-2 3-4 0 1 8

Smith 39 5-21 1-2 2-4 7 3 12

Harris 14 0-3 0-0 1-1 1 1 0

Williams 28 3-13 7-10 2-9 2 5 14

Clark 22 2-7 0-0 1-3 0 5 6

McFrlnd 17 0-1 2-4 3-6 0 3 2

Stewart 20 6-16 0-0 2-7 1 2 16

Weaver 17 1-2 1-2 2-2 0 3 3

Totals 200 22-74 15-24 21-50 12 28 68

Percentages: FG .297, FT .625; 3-Point Goals: 9-25, .360 (Stewart 4-8, Clark 2-5, Williams 1-2, Aminu 1-3, Smith 1-4, Weaver 0-1, Harris 0-2); Team Rebounds: 4; Blocked Shots: 4 (McFarland 4); Turnovers: 11 (Aminu 3, McFarland 2, Stewart, Woods, Harris, Williams, Smith, Clark); Steals: 7 (Smith 3, Aminu 2, Clark 2); Technical Fouls: None.

North Carolina 32 45 -- 77
Wake Forest 28 40 -- 68

A--14,510