Jalen Washington scored a career-high 18 points and No. 10 North Carolina enjoyed a big second half to run away from American in a 107-55 victory Friday night at Chapel Hill, N.C.
Elliot Cadeau posted 15 of his 18 points in the first half, while RJ Davis and Seth Trimble each racked up 13 points and reserve Cade Tyson had 11 points for the Tar Heels (2-1).
Washington, a junior forward, shot 6-for-6 from the field, and North Carolina finally got rolling from the perimeter to finish 7-for-22 from 3-point range.
Matt Rogers scored 15 points and reserve Elijah Stephens added 12 points for American (1-3), which fell to 0-3 in road games.
North Carolina began to break away by scoring nine of the first 10 points of the second half for a 52-35 lead.
Then the rout was on as Tyson connected on a 3-pointer after the Tar Heels missed their first 10 attempts from beyond the arc. The Tar Heels hit treys on back-to-back possessions with Trimble’s launch providing a 64-45 advantage.
North Carolina, which hadn’t played since falling 92-89 a week earlier at No. 1 Kansas, led by as many as 12 late in the first half before going to the break with a 43-34 edge.
The Tar Heels went 15-for-19 on first-half free throws, while American didn’t attempt a foul shot. North Carolina missed all six of its attempts from beyond the 3-point arc prior to halftime.
North Carolina was slow to get on track but finally went up 23-20 shortly after the midway mark of the first half. Cadeau had 11 points by that juncture.
The teams combined to shoot 19-for-28 from the field through 12 minutes.
The Eagles finally took a free throw 59 seconds into the second half. By then, it was clear American was going to try to accomplish as much as possible from long range as more than half its attempts for the game were 3-pointers. The Eagles finished 7-for-31 (22.6 percent) from beyond the arc.
–Field Level Media
