North Carolina rallied from a double-digit deficit in the second half to defeat No. 23 Ohio State 89-84 in overtime in New York on Saturday behind 28 points and 15 rebounds by Armando Bacot.
Caleb Love scored four of his 22 points in overtime for the Tar Heels (8-4), who have won three straight. He had three points in the first half. RJ Davis added 21 points.
Love’s basket to open overtime put the Tar Heels ahead to stay.
Freshman Brice Sensabaugh hit a jumper with two seconds left in regulation to give Ohio State a 79-77 lead, before Pete Nance sent the game to overtime with his shot at the buzzer.
Sensabaugh had a career-high 22 points for the Buckeyes (7-3). Bruce Thornton had 17, Justice Sueing 16 and Zed Key 11.
The Tar Heels trailed by 14 in the first half, nine at halftime and by 11 in the second half.
They finally tied it at 72 on a Davis layup with 2:10 to go. After a Sueing bucket, Davis hit a 3-pointer for North Carolina’s first lead, 75-74, since going up 14-12.
Key made a 3-pointer with 31 seconds left prior to a Bacot basket in the paint to tie it 77-77 at the 17-second mark.
North Carolina opened the second half with a 10-2 stretch to pull to within 46-45.
The Buckeyes were able to stretch the lead to 66-55 with under seven minutes remaining on a bucket by Key, who attended nearby Long Island (N.Y.) Lutheran.
Ohio State built a 44-35 halftime lead only because Bacot wouldn’t let the game get out of hand. The Buckeyes were up 34-20 when Bacot outscored Ohio State 10-2 to make it 36-30 before a free throw by Leaky Black pulled the Tar Heels to within 36-31.
The half ended with Bacot scoring the last of his 16 points on a dunk with nine seconds left, only to have Sueing can a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
–Field Level Media
