In its first game in two years, the UNC JV men's basketball team dominated Voyager Academy 76-32 on Friday afternoon in the Dean E. Smith Center.
What happened?
The game got off to a quick start, with Voyager Academy winning the tip and immediately scoring after a drive to the basket.
UNC found an immediate response, with sophomore Ty’Rell McLucas sinking a three-pointer after running the ball back down the court. The teams then traded possession back and forth for the next few minutes, before the North Carolina defense settled into a consistent rhythm.
Both teams went a brief period until UNC sophomore Nyikos Fritts was able to capitalize and score off a breakaway layup. This seemed to swing the momentum fully in the Tar Heels' favor, as they began to dominate possession.
This was largely due to an aggressive, full-court press that forced multiple turnovers that UNC was able to convert into points. Five minutes into the game, North Carolina had already tripled the score of its opponents, 18-6.
This lead only grew, as the Vikings' shooting went cold. They attempted to combat this with a time-out with 12:40 left on the clock, but to no avail, as UNC came out of the break and immediately found sophomore Will Tyndall empty at the bottom of the key to put up another two points.
The rest of the period followed a similar trajectory, ultimately culminating in a score of 51-19 at halftime in favor of the Tar Heels.
Voyager Academy looked for redemption in the second half, implementing an aggressive offensive strategy that saw them immediately put two on the scoreboard. However, poor shooting accuracy and an inability to capitalize at the free throw line again caused the Vikings to fall further behind, as Voyager Academy never got within 30 points of UNC late in the game.
