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WRALSportsFan

Carolina Downs Boston College To Advance To ACC Finals

By By: Ryan Craig

Mar 11, 2007

Roy Williams objected to the rumors that his team doesn’t care about the ACC Tournament – and his team backed up his words. North Carolina sprinted out to an early lead and never looked back, as Brandan Wright and the rest of the Tar Heels ran past Boston College 71-56 to advance to the finals.

Carolina will play either #3 seed Virginia Tech or #10 seed N.C. State for the ACC Championship tomorrow at 1pm.

Brandan Wright led North Carolina with 20 points on 10-12 shooting, rarely hoisting up a shot from outside three feet. Fellow freshmen Wayne Ellington and Ty Lawson added 10 points each and Tyler Hansbrough fell a point short of a double-double, finshing with nine points and 13 rebounds in 33 minutes of action.

The game started out slow as both teams had trouble finding a rhythm early. The first couple of minutes saw almost as many fouls as points, until Carolina started to widen the gap courtesy of a 13-2 run to make the score 17-5. A Brandan Wright dunk and a five point contribution off the bench from Bobby Frasor paced the Tar Heels, while Boston College began the game 1-9 from the field.

Hansbrough, still clearly bothered by the mask he is forced to wear due to the broken nose he suffered from a blow to the face by Duke’s Gerald Henderson, had a traditional three point play to make the score 30-14, as Carolina outscored BC 21-6 in the paint up to that point.

The Eagles finally got untracked, going on an 8-3 run of their own on the back of a Sean Marshall three and free throws from newly-crowned ACC Player of the Year, Jared Dudley, and John Oates.

Boston College would get no closer than that the rest of the half, as Carolina turned their 30-19 lead into an 18 point working margin following a Lawson jumper and a pretty feed from Reyshawn Terry to Wright inside that led to an emphatic dunk from the ACC Freshman of the Year.

A late three from Tyrese Rice, coming off a career-high 32 point performance in BC’s win over Miami in the Quarterfinals, sent his team to the locker room down 38-23.

Carolina increased the lead to 20 after the break behind a pair of Brandan Wright dunks and some hard work inside from Hansbrough, who pitched in four points of his own.

Boston College did their best to make it a game, closing to 50-41 with a 13-2 run behind a pair of Dudley jumpers and five points from Marshall, but Carolina provided a quick answer, led yet again by Brandan Wright.

The freshman took a nice feed in transition after a steal by defensive stalwart Marcus Ginyard that led to one dunk, and was on the receiving end of a beautiful feed inside from Lawson for yet another, as the Tar Heels pushed the lead back to 57-44.

Wayne Ellington hit a three that increased the lead to 18, at 62-44, but a 10-5 BC run, culminated by back-to-back threes from Marshall and Dudley, brought the Eagles back to within 13.

The Eagles would get no closer the rest of the way, as Carolina booked their spot in the finals of the ACC Tournament for the first time since 2001.

Sean Marshall led Boston College with 23 points. Dudley had 20 points and six rebounds, and Rice finished with just five points on 1-9 shooting.

Notes: Carolina has not trailed at any point in the tournament...The Tar Heels are seeking their first ACC Tournament title since 1998, when they beat Duke in the finals...

 

• Web Editor: Ryan Craig