Brady Manek scored 22 points and North Carolina posted the first eight points of overtime to beat Syracuse 88-79 on Monday night in Chapel Hill, N.C., keeping alive its hopes to finish atop the Atlantic Coast Conference.
In order to gain a share of the ACC title, North Carolina (22-8, 14-5 ACC) needs Duke to lose in Tuesday night’s game at Pittsburgh and then the Tar Heels must win Saturday at Duke. Also, Notre Dame must fall in one of its two remaining games.
Caleb Love notched 21 points, Armando Bacot provided 17 points and 18 rebounds and R.J. Davis had 17 points for the Tar Heels, who were 14-for-36 on 3s.
Syracuse’s Cole Swider scored 36 points, shooting 7-for-11 on 3-point attempts and accounting for most of the team’s 10 successful 3-pointers.
Buddy Boeheim added 14 points as the Orange (15-15, 9-10) attempted to rebound from a lopsided home loss to first-place Duke just two nights earlier. Instead, it marked its third straight setback.
In regulation, North Carolina had a scoring drought after going up 70-69 with 2:23 to play. The Orange had possession coming out of a timeout with 16 seconds left, but a turnover gave North Carolina a chance with 13.3 seconds to play.
Love’s 3 put the Tar Heels on top with 7.3 seconds to play. Syracuse’s Joe Girard III hit a tying basket with a baseline jumper at the 1.4-second mark.
North Carolina shot 26.5 percent in the second half.
Earlier, Syracuse scored the game’s first nine points, but the Tar Heels were up 41-36 at halftime despite Swider’s 21 points.
It was the second overtime game for the Orange in an eight-night stretch after topping Georgia Tech a week earlier in an extra session. Syracuse was hurt by the absence of guard Symir Torrence, who was injured Saturday against Duke and didn’t make the trip.
North Carolina had guard Leaky Black back in action after he missed the second half of Saturday’s rout at North Carolina State because of a hyperextended knee.
–Field Level Media
