RALEIGH — Garrison Brooks scored 25 points and the North Carolina men’s basketball team logged 40 points in the paint en route to an 75-65 win over N.C. State on Monday night.
The Tar Heels moved to 10-10 and 3-6 in the ACC with the win — one in which they also shot 49 percent from the field and out-rebounded the Wolfpack, 42-31.
What happened?
N.C. State (14-7, 5-5 ACC) took an early lead in the first four minutes behind Jericole Hellems’ eight points on 3-3 shooting. UNC fought back, mostly behind Brooks, to go up 18-17 by under-12 media timeout.
The first half remained tight from then on. Brooks stayed hot — he finished with 17 first-half points — and Leaky Black put up nine points to give the Tar Heels the lead twice with under seven minutes left.
Trailing 30-29, N.C. State promptly forced two turnovers and put up six points in just over a minute to regain momentum. But in a fitting close to the half, UNC made its last four shots — including an Armando Bacot dunk and Brooks put-back in the last 10 seconds — to take a 39-35 lead into the break.
Brooks kept it going in the second half, scoring or assisting on UNC’s first three baskets to put his team up eight and force an early N.C. State timeout. As the Wolfpack continued their slow start, North Carolina extended its lead to a game-best nine.
N.C. State’s Devon Daniels changed that. With some tough buckets, plus a monstrous D.J. Funderburk dunk, the Wolfpack made five straight shots and willed themselves back into the game.
Thanks to timely buckets by grad transfers Christian Keeling and Justin Pierce, though, North Carolina hung onto a 60-52 lead with 10 minutes left.
