North Carolina got control of hot-shooting Casper Ware after halftime Saturday night and charged back to defeat Long Beach State 84-78 at the Smith Center.
Down 51-45 after trailing 45-40 at halftime, the Tar Heels used a 27-10 run to regain the lead. Reggie Bullock, a sophomore swingman, came off the bench to ignite the surge with his outside shooting.
Bullock hit a 3-pointer to slice the lead to three and start the run. Three minutes later, he scored eight consecutive points — hitting two more 3s and a 15-foot jumper from the right baseline — for 11 of the first 17 points in the run.
His last 3-pointer, from just left of the top of the key, gave UNC the lead for good at 62-59. Until Bullock hit the three 3-pointers, UNC had missed nine consecutive attempts, including its last eight of the first half.
Bullock was pleased he could contribute clutch shots in a close game when his team needed scoring.
"My teammates just trust me," he said. "When they pass me the ball, they expect me to shoot it and knock it down. They're trusting me more, and I've been able to knock down the shots."
UNC led 72-61 when the run ended and still led by 11 with 5:46 left. Long Beach came no closer than six points thereafter.
UNC, which is heading into a seven-day break for exams, improved to 8-2 and built its home winning streak to 21 games.
John Henson had 24 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots in the victory, Harrison Barnes added 20 points, and Tyler Zeller scored 17 points, including the 1,000th of his career, and grabbed nine rebounds. Bullock finished with 15 points, and Kendall Marshall finished with 16 assists.
Ware finished with a career-high 29 points for Long Beach State (4-5).
Ware scored 21 points in the first half, mostly against the defense of point guard Marshall, and had 16 of his team's first 20 points. He made four 3-point shots, in a span of 3:24, and four two-point baskets.
Barnes thought the Tar Heels were in big trouble if they couldn't clamp down on Ware.
"I thought he was on pace for 60," Barnes said. "I was very worried. We had to defend the ball better."
Marshall drew the defensive assignment on Ware again after halftime. Dexter Strickland helped, as he did in the first half, and refocused pressure slowed Ware.
Ware made Long Beach State's first basket of the second half for a 47-43 lead. He didn't score again for the next 10:20. He made only four baskets in the second half, including one in the final seconds when UNC allowed him a layup.
More important for UNC, Ware missed all three of his 3-point shots after halftime.
"I don't know if I want to take full credit for (keeping Ware under control)," Marshall said with a smile. "In the second half, we just wanted to make things more difficult for him.
"In the first half, we were trying to defend him one-on-one instead of using our team defensive concept. We did a lot better job of that in the second half."
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