North Carolina 77, NC State 63

Other than that Mrs. Lincoln…

In a game that was there for the taking, NC State couldn’t get it done tonight against the Heels, letting a five-point lead slip away during an eight-minute scoring drought in the second half. The Wolfpack missed 12 straight shots during Carolina’s run.

On the night NC State shot 39 percent from the field and 31 percent from behind the arc. Carolina, conversely, shot 51 percent overall and 46 percent from three point range.  The Tar Heels dominated the Wolfpack on the glass, out rebounding NC State 35-28 in what is becoming an alarming tend for State lately.

If there’s a formula to lose a game, that’s it.

Deon Thompson, Larry Drew II and Ed Davis  (who certainly looked better than ‘very questionable’) led the Tar Heels. Thompson notched 21 points with Drew and Davis scoring 18 and 12, respectively. Davis and Thompson also played relatively good defense on Tracy Smith for most of the night.

Tracy Smith scored a hard-earned 20 points and pulled down six boards despite going against two and sometimes three defenders much of the night. Javi Gonzalez tallied 19, but much of it came in a five-minute stretch at the end of the first half and beginning of the second half.

Here’s the complete box score. Try to ignore Scott Wood’s…umm…below average performance. And Dennis Horner’s. And Richard Howell’s. And Julius Mays’. You get the point.

Here’s the N&O’s take.

Come March, North Carolina might look back on Tuesday’s 77-63 win over N.C. State and pinpoint exactly when its season was saved.

A three-game ACC losing streak was in danger of turning into four when the Tar Heels found new life and their way back into the win column.

Deon Thompson’s dunk at 10:04 left the lone returning starter from last year’s national title team pounding his chest and sent the Heels on their way to a seventh straight win over the Wolfpack.

There isn’t a whole lot more to say really. If NC State doesn’t go cold in the second half, it would have been in the ball game late. Carolina certainly didn’t play great and left the door open for the Wolfpack to make a run. That run just never happened.