Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs North Carolina Tar Heels Match Player Stats On Jan 02, 2021

Leaky Black made a go-ahead jump shot with 9.1 seconds remaining, and North Carolina grabbed a 66-65 win over visiting Notre Dame in an ACC matchup Saturday afternoon in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Day'Ron Sharpe led the way with 25 points for the Tar Heels (6-4, 1-2). Armando Bacot grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds but scored just four points on 1-for-7 shooting.

Nate Laszewski scored 25 points on 9-for-14 shooting to lead Notre Dame (3-6, 0-3). Prentiss Hubb added 14 points for the Fighting Irish, who learned two days earlier that they would play North Carolina instead of Pittsburgh, which had to bow out of their scheduled game because of COVID-19 concerns.

North Carolina trailed for much of the second half but rallied to tie the score at 57-57 with 5:12 to go. Sharpe grabbed an offensive rebound and put back a layup to erase what had been a 57-50 deficit.

Sharpe added two free throws with 4:19 left to make it a 9-0 run and give North Carolina a 59-57 advantage.

The Fighting Irish battled back to go ahead 63-62 with 1:55 remaining on a layup by Nikola Djogo.

Twenty seconds later, North Carolina responded with a dunk by Sharpe to regain a 64-63 edge. Then it was Notre Dame's turn to grab the lead, as Hubb made a layup to put the Fighting Irish on top 65-64 with 36 seconds left.

A jumper by Black gave the Tar Heels their final and most important lead of the afternoon.

Notre Dame led 30-29 at the half.

The Tar Heels took a 17-14 lead when Puff Johnson made a layup with 12:10 to go before the break. But they could not hold on to the lead as Notre Dame went on a 12-2 run to go ahead 26-19 with 4:55 remaining.

Laszewski drained a 3-pointer to start Notre Dame's scoring binge, and Dane Goodwin hit a 3-pointer to cap the run.

Then it was North Carolina's turn to go on a lengthy scoring run. Starting with a 3-pointer by Garrison Brooks, the Tar Heels scored the next 10 points in a row to go ahead 29-26 with 2:09 left in the first half.

Cormac Ryan and Hubb scored back-to-back baskets to give Notre Dame a one-point lead at intermission.

--Field Level Media