The North Carolina Tar Heels built a nine-point lead over Villanova in the second half of Thursday’s Battle 4 Atlantis semifinal game. It looked like the Tar Heels were going to move to 5-0 on the season until the Wildcats answered back.
Villanova went on a 8-0 run, aided by some questionable calls, to tie it up at 57 in the second half. The two teams went back and forth the rest of the way before Cormac Ryan hit a three-pointer late to tie it. After a missed R.J. Davis three-pointer, they went into overtime before the Wildcats outscored the Tar Heels 15-13 in the extra period for an 83-81 win.
The Wildcats were able to fight back on the back of Eric Dixon who led all scorers with 34 points.
North Carolina wasn’t able to put the game away and found themselves in foul trouble early in the second half. They had three players foul out including Harrison Ingram who picked up his fifth foul late in the second half on a questionable offensive foul. Ingram finished with 20 points.
The theme of the second half was the fouls, despite the two teams matching each other with buckets down the stretch.
North Carolina committed 30 fouls and had three players foul out as Villanova went to the line 36 times. UNC only went to the line 23 times and Villanova had just one player commit 4 fouls.
Still, UNC had their chances.
R.J. Davis’ three-pointer as time expired went off the back of the iron sending the game to overtime. Davis missed a layup late in overtime that would have cut the lead. After UNC stole an inbound pass, Cormac Ryan was fouled down three and made the first shot. But the second attempt was a lane violation that all but ended the game as Ryan got hurt on the play.
It’s a tough loss for the Tar Heels who are now 4-1 on the year and will await the loser of Memphis and Arkansas on Friday.
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