North Carolina rallies past Ohio State 89-84 in CBS Sports Classic

NEW YORK CITY – North Carolina rallied from a 14-point first half deficit and took an 89-84 win in overtime over No. 23 Ohio State in the CBS Sports Classic here at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

The Buckeyes appeared to have cinched it in regulation when Brice Sensabaugh hit a jumper near the lane with two seconds left for a 79-77 lead. But UNC advanced the ball to midcourt, called timeout and then lobbed it to Pete Nance, whose 14-footer at the buzzer sent the game to overtime.

North Carolina, which has four starters back from last year’s team that advanced to the national championship game, showed its experience and poise in the overtime. OSU was 2 for 10 from the floor (0 for 5 on threes) and had two turnovers in overtime. UNC outscored OSU 10-5 in overtime and, for the game, had 27 points off 16 Ohio State turnovers.

“I felt like in the second half their toughness, their will and their want-to was exactly where it needed to be,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said of his team. “In the first half, they were outrebounding us, they were being more physical with us. They were getting more loose balls. They were beating us to everything.

“At halftime, we talked about how there needed to be a response and for things to change. The level of toughness and physicality needed to be brought to play against such a great team as Ohio State.”

Senior Armando Bacot, UNC’s All-American candidate at center, had a huge game with 28 points and 15 rebounds. He was 11 of 19 from the floor and 6 of 9 at the foul line.

UNC’s backcourt of Caleb Love and R.J. Davis also came up big for the Tar Heels. Love had 22 points and seven assists. Davis had 21 points, eight rebounds and four assists.

OSU coach Chris Holtmann was trying to keep a positive mind-set after what goes down as a huge missed opportunity at securing a critical nonconference win.

“Like I told the guys, there were a lot of good things to take from it,” Holtmann said. “Obviously, it’s a tough loss, given how close we were. There are a lot of good things to take from it and also a lot of things to learn for sure.

“It was a hard-fought game by two good teams. Give them a lot of credit for kind of finishing in overtime. We just couldn’t seem to get enough stops, couldn’t answer the bell enough there defensively or offensively in overtime.

“Nance made a tough shot there with over a second to go. Give them credit for that and finishing the game.”

The freshman forward Sensabaugh had a season-high 22 points, eight rebounds and three assists for Ohio State (7-3). He was 9 of 17 from the floor, including 2 of 6 on threes.

“Brice is going to continue to develop and become a really good player,” said OSU senior wing Justice Sueing. “He’s been great for us being able to handle the pressure, especially towards the end of the game. But Brice is going to continue to grow, and we’re going to continue to have our confidence in him and, likewise, so will everyone else on the team. He had it going for us today.”

Freshman guard Bruce Thornton chipped in 17 points, five rebounds and five assists but he also had five turnovers. Thornton was 6 of 10 from the floor (2 of 4 on threes) and 3 of 5 at the foul line.

“I think what he’ll be most disappointed is some of the uncharacteristic turnovers,” Holtmann said. “We’ve got a lot on Bruce right now. It’s a lot on all four of our freshmen, but it’s a lot on him. I’m worried he’s going to wear down, to be honest with you. He’s a heck of a kid and a heck of a player and an absolute warrior. I know, if you asked him, he’d like a couple of those turnovers back.

“We just made some poor decisions with the ball, but we’ll get better with that.”

Sueing added 16 points and nine rebounds for the Buckeyes.

“We missed down the line a couple key stops that were vital,” Sueing said. “These type of environments, these type of games come down to one or two possessions. They had position on a couple of them, especially on some O-boards and gave them an extra chance to score.

“We’re just disappointed because we were right there. We had a tough shot at the end of regulation to force OT, but just, like I said, there’s always those one or two possessions that we really could have locked down on and taken care of the ball a little bit better that could have prevented that. That’s what it comes down to at the end of the game. It’s a one- or two-possession game. That’s why I was most disappointed because we were right there.”

Center Zed Key had 11 points and four rebounds for the Buckeyes. Key was 4 of 11 from the floor, including 2 of 3 on threes.

Ohio State played the game without senior guard Isaac Likekele, who was away from the team for much of the last 10 days as he returned to his home state of Texas to deal with a family issue.