Leslie McDonald lights up the Smith Center during UNC-Duke game

Leslie McDonald had one more chance to make it count, to make his last time on his home hardwood against his archrival mean something.

He’d been in a slump — two of 16 from the floor in the last two games combined — but on Thursday night, he shook whatever demon was on his back in recent games.

Fourteen seconds into North Carolina’s 74-66 win against Duke, McDonald received the ball behind the arc. He didn’t hesitate.

He pulled the trigger.

Bottoms.

“If I get the first shot of the game, I’ve got to be ready and confident to knock it down,” said McDonald, who finished with a season-high 21 points.

“So when I got the ball, I already had it in my mind that if I was open, I was going to shoot the ball.”

It was a shot that brought an already deafening crowd to an ear-shattering decibel and gave the streaky shooter the confidence he needed to push himself the rest of the game.

“When the ball goes in the hole you’re going to be more confident,” he said.

“I just had to see the ball go in the hole and that was it for me. I started gaining my confidence again.”

And after giving North Carolina (19-7, 9-4 ACC) its first lead of the night against No. 5 Duke (21-6, 10-4 ACC), the senior guard gave his team its final one of the night when he knocked down a jumper to give the Tar Heels a lead they wouldn’t relinquish with 3:54 remaining in the game.

“When I shot the shot to give us the lead, I wasn’t looking at the score,” he said.

“I was trying to play basketball, play within the team. I was open and it felt good. I said I was going to shoot the shot and it gave us the lead.”

Coach Roy Williams, who has frequently lamented McDonald’s struggle to find consistency, praised his lone scholarship senior for coming up big when it mattered most.

“Leslie showed up tonight,” Williams said.

“Leslie had been struggling to say the least and he made some big baskets for us … Everybody in the locker room feels really good for Leslie right now. It’s been a hard time for the youngster.

“He was big for us tonight and we needed him to be big tonight.”

With UNC’s leading scorers Marcus Paige and James Michael McAdoo held to a combined four points at the half, McDonald provided an offensive spark when UNC needed it most.

“Leslie was huge. He was really getting us going in the first half,” Paige said.

“I knew he’s been around for five years, so to have him have such a good game against a rival, it’s big for him.

“He’s one of our leaders.”

Though he’s traditionally known for his 3-point prowess, McDonald didn’t just loft balls up from long range Thursday night.

He mixed things up, making eight of his career-high nine field goals from inside the arc.

“I’ve been so on the 3-point line and so trying to get my threes off,” McDonald said.

“I’ve just been neglecting my midrange and driving to the basket so I wanted to do something new that not a lot of teams have seen.”

Eligibility issues held McDonald out the opening nine games.

While he was on the bench, he never really thought about his final home Duke game — a game so distant in the future that it seemed light years away.

But when it was finally his time, he was ready.

“I knew there was going to be a time where we had to play Duke, and it was going to be crazy,” McDonald said.

“But I never expected it to be like this.”

sports@dailytarheel.com