COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NATIONAL ROUNDUP : North Carolina Gets Hot, 90-79

North Carolina played far from perfect in the first half of Thursday night’s Atlantic Coast Conference game against Wake Forest.

The No. 14 Tar Heels blew an 11-point lead and left the court at intermission trailing by four.

But the second half was a different story.

North Carolina made 14 of its first 16 shots en route to a 90-79 victory at Winston-Salem, N.C.

George Lynch made 11 of 13 shots and scored 26 points for North Carolina (12-2, 3-1 in the ACC). The Tar Heels made 19 of 24 shots (79%) in the second half.

“I haven’t been coaching as long as some people, but I don’t think I’ve seen a team play more effectively or smarter than North Carolina in the second half tonight,” Wake Forest Coach Dave Odom said. “I’d like to say it was a poor defensive job, but I don’t think that was it.”

North Carolina made 60% of its shots in the first 13 minutes, then went almost seven minutes without a basket. During that span, Wake Forest (8-4, 1-3) went on a 17-0 run. Chris King scored the final eight points to help turn a 36-25 deficit with 7:17 left into a 42-36 lead 52 seconds before halftime.

North Carolina’s Eric Montross scored with 29 seconds left before intermission, pulling the Tar Heels to within 42-38.

Montross scored six of North Carolina’s first eight points in the second half as the Tar Heels tied the score, 46-46, with 17:45 left.

Derrick Phelps made a three-point shot to put North Carolina ahead to stay, 52-50, with 16:22 remaining.

No. 19 Tulane 80, Virginia Tech 60--Tulane went on a 15-0 run midway through the second half and cruised to a Metro Conference victory at New Orleans.

Tulane (13-0, 2-0) led, 43-33, when Coach Perry Clark pulled his starters about three minutes into the second half. Clark sent in “The Posse,” as he calls his second string, and the substitutes produced 15 unanswered points as Virginia Tech (6-7, 1-2) committed seven of its 29 turnovers.

No. 25 Louisville 60, South Florida 47--Reserve center Brian Hopgood scored seven of his 11 points during a 10-0 run in the second half to help the Cardinals (9-3, 1-2) beat South Florida (10-4, 0-2) in a Metro Conference game at Louisville, Ky.

OTHER GAMES

Idris Jones made a 15-foot fadeaway jump shot at the buzzer to give UC Santa Barbara a 74-72 Big West Conference victory over Utah State at Santa Barbara. . . . J.R. Wrider scored 19 points and Nevada Las Vegas (13-2, 5-0) held off a late surge by Pacific (5-8, 1-3) for a 70-52 Big West victory at Stockton.

Malcom Leak scored 13 points and had 11 rebounds as New Mexico State (12-1, 4-0) won its ninth consecutive game, an 81-73 Big West victory over San Jose State (1-11, 0-4). . . . Craig Rydalch and Antoine Davison each scored 13 points to lead Utah (11-4, 1-2) to a 68-51 Western Athletic Conference victory over Air Force (5-9, 0-3) at Salt Lake City.

Point guard Willie Banks scored 21 points and Khari Jaxon scored 17 points and had 10 rebounds as New Mexico (9-6, 3-0) beat San Diego State (2-12, 0-2), 90-68, in a WAC game at Albuquerque, N.M. . . . Freshman Russell Larson scored six of his 16 points during a 10-3 run over the final four minutes to lead Brigham Young (11-2, 2-1) to a 68-59 WAC victory over Wyoming (9-5, 1-2) at Provo, Utah.

Texas El Paso (13-1, 3-0) limited WAC scoring leader Phil Lott to eight points during a 67-51 victory over Hawaii (8-5, 1-1) at El Paso. . . . Monroe Brown scored 15 points to lead Penn State (11-4) to a 67-60 win over Marshall (3-9) in a nonconference game at Huntington, W.Va.