With the sport tied and fewer than a minute to go Saturday night time in the Dean Smith Center, Duke ahead Cameron Boozer knocked the ball unfastened from a driving Seth Trimble.
(*25*) ensuing take, nevertheless, did not consequence in factors, both.
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And Trimble, a senior North Carolina guard, received yet another likelihood for a defining second in a historic regional matchup that had been cut up evenly over its previous 120 iterations.
He swished a go-ahead 3 that brought on bedlam.
Fans stormed the court, solely to discover on the market had been 0.4 seconds remaining in the sport.
All of them had to return to their seats, and tools workers anxiously cleared the hardwood of particles — besides the Blue Devils’ last-second inbound heave did not change a 71-68 consequence, the largest comeback win for No. 14 UNC (19-4, 7-3 ACC) versus Duke (21-2, 10-1) in 25 years.
A motivated Caleb Wilson, who revealed to Andscape in the lead-up to the rivalry showdown that Duke stopped speaking to him in the highly-touted ahead’s recruitment, logged 17 of UNC’s 29 first-half factors and completed with 23. Boozer, one other top-five NBA Draft prospect, turned in 24 factors and 11 rebounds.
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Trimble, the hero who gave the Tar Heels their first lead of the night time with lower than a second left, collected 16 factors.
Duke was in the driving force’s seat many of the recreation.
It sliced via UNC’s protection with well-timed cuts in the opening minutes. One of these helped gasoline a 10-0 Blue Devils run that staked them to a 18-5 lead, as heart Patrick Ngongba II whipped a go to wing Dame Sarr, who then deposited a dunk.
Wilson did not get many touches early, and he did not rating till the 13:18 mark in the primary half. But his drought-ending turnaround jumper arrange a fairly up-and-under that gave the Tar Heels a shot in the arm.
UNC doubled Boozer early and sometimes. His first factors, and shot, got here on a tip-in shut to eight and a half minutes into the matchup.
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After Wilson scored eight straight factors for the Tar Heels, wing Jonathan Powell drilled a 3 to pull his workforce again inside six factors of the Blue Devils, making it a 22-16 recreation.
Wilson tacked on one other UNC triple, and, following two fast fouls, Boozer took a seat on the bench with 9:33 left earlier than intermission and the Tar Heels constructing what could be a 9-0 surge.
He sat for lower than two minutes, although, and Duke held onto its lead down the stretch of the primary half, even restoring a double-digit benefit, first with a 3 from Cameron Boozer after which with one other from his twin brother, Cayden Boozer.
Having shot a mere 9 of 27, or 33%, from the ground and accounted for simply 11 of the sport’s 33 rebounds throughout the primary 20 minutes of motion, UNC discovered itself down 41-29 on the break. Center Henri Veesaar got here in averaging 16.8 factors and 9 rebounds per recreation but had 0 factors and 2 rebounds in the primary half.
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To begin the second half, Wilson picked up the place he left off, flattening a tricky jumper over Cameron Boozer, (*2*).
Then Wilson used a jab step to set the stage for a left-handed layup. While his clinic continued, so did Duke’s lead, as Caleb Foster and, later, Sarr poured in 3-pointers.
But Veesaar’s first factors, adopted by Jarin Stevenson’s second 3 of the second half, decreased the Tar Heels’ deficit to 5. That sequence jumpstarted a flurry of offense on each ends.
UNC and Duke traded buckets up till the half’s second media timeout, with the Tar Heels’ effort degree noticeably greater than it was in the beginning of the sport.
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The scoring slowed in the next minutes. Isaiah Evans blocked Wilson, and Boozer netted his second triple, placing the Blue Devils up 62-53.
That stated, UNC did not go away. Derek Dixon sank a 3 that ignited the world.
He made yet another lower than 4 minutes later, and Veesaar adopted go well with to tie the sport at 68-68.
Veesaar bounced again from a quiet first half with 13 second-half factors and the protection that shut down Boozer on his potential game-winning drive.
Then Trimble etched his identify in UNC lore.