No. 20 North Carolina 64, Virginia Tech 61

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Posted 11:30PM on Tuesday, January 10, 2006

BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) Freshman Tyler Hansbrough scored four of his 20 points in the final 1:07 Tuesday night and grabbed nine rebounds as No. 20 North Carolina held off Virginia Tech 64-61, the Tar Heels' 18th consecutive victory over the Hokies. North Carolina (10-2, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) also got 10 points from foul-plagued David Noel and nine from Reyshawn Terry, seven over the last 7:37. Virginia Tech (10-6, 0-3) got 17 points from Wyton Witherspoon in his first start of the season and 13 from Zabian Dowdell, but failed to get several rebounds after misses by the Tar Heels in the final minute, allowing North Carolina to win its fourth straight overall. North Carolina outrebounded the Hokies 39-26 and limited Coleman Collins, the No. 3 scorer in the ACC with a 17.9 average, to seven points and three rebounds. The Hokies closed within two points several times in the final 10 minutes, but never tied it. Terry had a dunk and a 3-pointer around a driving layup by Dowdell, then hit two free throws after Witherspoon's basket inside pulled the Hokies to 57-56 with 4:04 left, whipping the home crowd into a frenzy. Hansbrough's basket inside made it 61-57 with 1:07 left, and the Tar Heels held on, keeping the ball alive three times after a miss while nursing a 61-59 lead, and then keeping it when Terry missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 9.3 seconds left. When Hansbrough was fouled on the same possession, he made both shots. North Carolina didn't lead by more than four at any point in the second half and won despite 25 turnovers that the Hokies turned into 20 points. The Hokies opened the second half on a 16-7 run to take a 46-41 lead with 13 minutes left, but Hansbrough scored in the lane twice and Wes Miller hit two long 3-pointers in a 10-2 run that gave North Carolina a 51-48 lead with 9:26 to play. The Tar Heels led 34-30 after a bruising first half that left Noel on the bench for the last 9:04 with three fouls and five other players with two fouls. The Hokies started fast, taking a 19-9 lead after 4.5 minutes, then went cold when point guard Jamon Gordon went to the bench with his second foul. The Tar Heels quickly put together a 16-1 run over the next four minutes to lead 25-20 with 8:42 left. The Hokies were 0-for-7 with two turnovers during their drought. (Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)