North Carolina Runs Past San Diego St., 103-92

The breakneck pace of North Carolina’s 103-92 victory over San Diego State Thursday night was all Dean Smith could have wanted and all that Jim Brandenburg feared.

Smith wanted his Tar Heels to turn up the tempo, the better to wear down and foul out the Aztecs.

Brandenburg, San Diego’s coach, preferred a slower pace, one that would preserve his starting five and lessen the need to turn to a bench stacked with freshmen.

North Carolina, as the score shows, got the pace it wanted. The result was that the No. 7 Tar Heels fouled out four Aztec starters on the way to their 11th victory in 12 games. The Aztecs (5-4) had to settle for sending home the largest Aztec crowd in San Diego Sports Arena history (13,106) with the comfort of at least having seen a close and entertaining game.

The crowd topped the previous Aztec high of 11,044 that came to see SDSU lose to No. 1 DePaul, 85-69, on Dec. 30, 1980.

“The fouls got to us and we just couldn’t keep pace,” Brandenburg said. “We gave them a great game, but we just ran out of players.”

San Diego stayed with the Tar Heels almost to the end, trailing by as little as 87-83 with 6:44 to play.

But not soon after, the fouls began to take their toll.

Senior forward Sam Johnson was the first Aztec to foul out with 6:31 left. He was followed by center Mitch McMullen at 6:07, senior point guard Bryan Williams at 3:51 and senior forward Shawn Bell at 3:30. Senior forward Sam Johnson fouled out with 13:29 to play. The loss of McMullen probably ended the Aztecs’ chances.

McMullen, a 6-foot 10-inch senior from Santa Clarita Hart High School, equaled his career highs with 29 points and had 12 rebounds before fouling out.

“We knew McMullen would get a few points off our pressure,” Smith said. “We tried to speed up the tempo and foul McMullen out, but we got (Johnson) instead.”

McMullen had waged an inside battle with the Tar Heels’ All-American, J.R. Reid, for most of the game.

Reid, in his first start and only his third game since returning from foot surgery Oct. 29, scored 17 points and had 4 rebounds in 25 minutes. Kevin Madden led the Tar Heels with 19 points and 8 rebounds.

Reid started because Scott Williams was sidelined with a sore ankle.

McMullen was all but unstoppable inside, scoring 18 points and getting 6 rebounds, and Bryan Williams proved too quick for the North Carolina guards to handle, handing out 9 of his game-high 10 assists.

But the catalyst seemed to be junior guard Michael Best. Hailed as a player who could help turn around the Aztecs’ sagging basketball fortunes when he transferred from Clemson, Best had been less than his best in the first 8 games.

Best, who had his first big collegiate game against the Tar Heels when he scored 20 points as a Clemson freshman, got 18 points.