National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
North Carolina 54, Virginia 51
When: 4:00 PM ET, Saturday, February 25, 2012
Where: John Paul Jones Arena, Charlottesville, Virginia
Officials: # Dwayne Gladden, # Joe Lindsay, # Tim Nestor
Attendance: 14273

NORTH CAROLINA 54, VIRGINIA 51: Tyler Zeller led the way with 20 points as the visiting Tar Heels kept pace atop the ACC by beating the Cavaliers for the second time this season.

John Henson collected 15 points and 11 rebounds for North Carolina (25-4, 12-2 ACC), which has won five straight and remains tied with rival Duke for first place in the conference. The Tar Heels close the regular season at Duke next weekend.

Virginia (21-7, 8-6), which features the top scoring defense in the ACC, was able to dictate the pace against the Tar Heels, who entered second in the nation and tops in the conference in scoring.

The Cavaliers held North Carolina to 33 percent shooting and took a 30-26 lead into the break. Virginia led as late as 5:53 left, when Joe Harris tipped in an offensive rebound to make it 49-48.

But the Cavaliers would make only one field goal the rest of the way. Zeller assisted on Henson’s dunk that gave North Carolina the lead and scored twice more on the inside, including a dunk in the lane with 14 seconds left that made it 54-51.

Virginia had two chances to tie it in the final 10 seconds but missed both 3-point attempts.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Cavaliers star Mike Scott was held to six points on 3-of-13 shooting … Jontel Evans led Virginia with 13 points … North Carolina held a huge rebounding edge, 44-29.
Top Game Performances
 
North Carolina   Virginia
Tyler Zeller 20 Scoring Jontel Evans 13
Kendall Marshall 6 Assists Jontel Evans 3
John Henson 11 Rebounds Mike Scott 7
John Henson 7 Free Throws Made Malcolm Brogdon 2
Reggie Bullock 1 Steals Jontel Evans 2
John Henson 2 Blocks Joe Harris 3
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
North Carolina 54 33.3 2-14 18-23 8 44 4 2 11
Virginia 51 35.0 6-23 3-6 7 29 7 3 4