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Tar Heels run away from Valparaiso

From Staff and Wire Reports The Spokesman-Review

Danny Green matched his career-high with 20 points and sparked the decisive second-half spurt Sunday night to help No. 1 North Carolina beat Valparaiso 90-58 at Chapel Hill, N.C.

Tyler Hansbrough had 23 points and 13 rebounds for the Tar Heels (13-0), who got off to a fast start only to see the Crusaders hang around before finally putting the game away with a big second-half run. North Carolina is off to its best start since winning 17 in a row to start the 1997-98 season.

Jarryd Loyd scored 14 of his 24 points in the first half for Valparaiso (10-3), which fought back from an early 17-point deficit to tie the game early in the second half. But the Tar Heels’ stepped up defensively while controlling the boards to turn this game into the latest in a series of lopsided victories.

Deon Thompson finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and a career-high five blocks, while Green continued his solid – yet often overlooked – play this season. Averaging 12.6 points off the bench this year, the 6-foot-6 junior went 8 for 10 from the floor and 4 for 5 from 3-point range.

Green also had four rebounds, five assists, three steals and four blocks in 20 minutes.

North Carolina has been on cruise control since a tough 72-68 win against Davidson to open the year, repeatedly rolling up big-margin victories and cracking the 100-point mark in crowd-pleasing fashion. That included a 35-point win against UC Santa Barbara last weekend and a 36-point win against Nevada on Thursday.

The Valparaiso game started the same way, with North Carolina scoring the game’s first 13 points and taking a 19-2 lead in the first 9 minutes. The Crusaders, behind Loyd’s big half, survived the early blast and fought their way back to within 36-31 at halftime before tying it at 37 early after the break.

But the Tar Heels responded with a 27-2 run over 8 1/2 minutes.

Also

Bridgewater State 88, Whitworth 75: At Staten Island, N.Y., Tom Cuddihy scored 24 points and Roland Millien had 23 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Bears (4-6) past the Pirates (6-2) in the championship game of the CSI Tournament of Heroes. Ryan Symes led Whitworth with 18 points while Colin Willemsen had 14 points and 14 rebounds.