LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Brady Manek scored 24 points and Armando Bacot scored 19 points and grabbed a career-high 22 rebounds and UNC beat Louisville in a 90-83 overtime thriller on Tuesday night.
Leaky Black’s 3-pointer with 2:10 left in the extra session broke an 81-all tie and the Tar Heels led the rest of the way.
The final 1:10 was highlighted by a pair of technical fouls against Louisville that led to four-made foul shots for UNC to seal the win.
Jae’Lyn Withers was whistled for a dead ball contact technical foul when officials ruled he shoved Bacot to the floor after the whistle blew when Bacot and Louisville’s Matt Cross got tied up for a loose ball with 1:10 left. Caleb Love sank the technicals for an 86-81 Carolina lead.
Noah Locke responded with two foul shots for the Cardinals with 59 seconds to go to reduce the deficit to three. The Tar Heels turned it over, and on the Cardinals’ ensuing possession, Cross’ deep, straight-on 3 attempt hit the rim and ricocheted to the left baseline. On the bounce, however, Louisville’s Syndey Curry was called for an offensive foul boxing out Bacot. In his irate response, Cardinals interim head coach Mike Pegues was called for a technical foul upon slamming his hand on the scorer’s table.
Love then sank two technical foul shots and Bacot made 1 of 2 foul shots for the whistle drawn on Curry for an 89-83 advantage. Love made 1 of 2 with five seconds to go for the game’s final margin.
In regulation, after Bacot threw down a dunk to give UNC a 55-45 lead with 12:35 remaining, Louisville went on a shooting spree when El Ellis sank three 3s’ and Cross another to give Louisville a 57-55 advantage. Neither team led by more than four points to end regulation.
Withers came up with spectacular block on RJ Davis’ wide-open layup attempt to send it to overtime tied at 74.
Ellis scored a career-high 25 points with a career-high five 3s for Louisville.
Earlier in the day, Louisville’s athletic board executive committee approved a new contract for Pegues that includes a guaranteed bonus of $340,000 and other incentives.
Pegues took over the Cardinals last week for the second time this season after coach Chris Mack and the school agreed to part ways.
Pegues guided Louisville to a 5-1 start while Mack was suspended and began his second stint with a 74-65 loss to No. 9 Duke on Saturday.
Louisville was without leading scorer and rebounder Malik Williams due to what Pegues described as an “indefinite” suspension. On his radio show on Monday night, Pegues called the undisclosed suspension “one game for now.”
The Tar Heels will host ninth-ranked Duke on Saturday to mark the last regular season appearance at Chapel Hill for Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Davidson 81, Saint Bonaventure 76
BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — Foster Loyer scored 21 points, Hyunjung Lee added 18 points and Davidson won its seventh consecutive road game beating Saint Bonaventure 81-76 on Tuesday night.
Michael Jones scored 17 points and Luka Brajkovic had 13 points and eight rebounds for Davidson (18-3, 8-1 Atlantic 10 Conference).
Jalen Adaway scored 21 points, Kyle Lofton had 19 points, nine rebounds and eight assists and Dominick Welch scored 18 for the Bonnies (12-6, 4-3).
Jaren Holmes, whose 15 points per game heading into the matchup led the Bonnies, finished 1-for-10 shooting.
