Local Teams

Armando Bacot scored 17 points and Day'Ron Sharpe added 16 as North Carolina defeated visiting NC State 86-76 in Atlantic Coast Conference action Saturday afternoon in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Caleb Love added 15 points and Anthony Harris and R.J. Davis both had 10 for the Tar Heels (10-5, 5-3 ACC), who have won five of their last six and improved to 6-0 at home. North Carolina got 38 points from its reserves.

Devon Daniels posted 21 points and DJ Funderburk added 14 for the Wolfpack (6-5, 2-4), who lost their fourth game in a row and have yet to win in 2021.

NC State was going for its first regular-season sweep of the Tar Heels since the 2002-03 season. The Wolfpack won 79-76 on Dec. 22 in Raleigh.

Reversing a trend of sluggish first halves this season, UNC used a late 10-2 run to take a 43-33 lead into the locker room. The Tar Heels posted a 28-14 edge in the paint in the opening half.

The Wolfpack got within 75-69 on Daniels 3-pointer with less than four minutes to play, but the Tar Heels pushed the lead back to double figures with two free throws by Love and a layup by Harris.

Thomas Allen, who led the Wolfpack in scoring in each of the past two games, was held to six points on 2-of-9 shooting.

NC State hadn't played since a 32-point blowout loss Jan. 13 at Florida State. Then the Wolfpack went into a coronavirus-based pause, with games vs. Georgia Tech and Virginia postponed.

NC State center Manny Bates (10 points) was back in action after missing a game with an injury.

Roy Williams improved to 33-5 against NC State as the Tar Heels' head coach and has never lost consecutive games to the Wolfpack.

--Field Level Media