No. 1 North Carolina loses

Tyrese Rice and Boston College put an end to all that talk of whether No. 1 North Carolina could go unbeaten.

Rice scored 25 points in his second consecutive big game against the Tar Heels to help the Eagles stun North Carolina, 85-78, on Sunday, probably ending its run atop the early season polls.

Rakim Sanders had 22 points for the Eagles (13-2, 1-0), who led by six points at halftime and pushed the lead to as many as 15 before holding off a frantic rally from the Tar Heels (13-1, 0-1) in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both teams.

“We had to have the discipline in order to execute what it is we needed to do,” Boston College Coach Al Skinner said. “There were going to be breakdowns and there were, but guys were able to refocus and not compound those mistakes.”

Tyler Hansbrough scored 21 points to lead North Carolina, which made only 15 of 27 free throws.