Heels hold off resilient Buckeyes

By The Associated Press

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Deon Thompson had 15 points and 12 rebounds and No. 6 North Carolina managed to hold on for a victory Thursday over No. 15 Ohio State in the 2K Coaches Classic at Madison Square Garden.

The Tar Heels (4-0), who led by 19 points with 10:23 to play, saw the lead dwindle to two points in the final minute before finally putting away the win.

The Buckeyes (2-1) finally started hitting from the outside at the same time the Tar Heels starting missing free throws, and Ohio State was within 75-73 on a 3 by Jon Diebler with 11 seconds left.

Larry Drew II, who missed four of his previous six free throws in the final minute, then made two from the line with 11 seconds left for the final margin.

Evan Turner had with 23 points, 11 rebounds and 10 turnovers for Ohio State.

No. 24 Minnesota 76, Utah Valley 51: Freshman Rodney Williams had 17 points, six rebounds and four steals in his first career start, helping Minnesota pull away from Utah Valley in the second half in Minneapolis.

Damian Johnson had 15 points, six rebounds, three blocks and two steals, though, to lead another strong defensive effort. Minnesota (3-0) had 30 points off 26 Utah Valley turnovers, and five Gophers turnovers only gave the Wolverines (1-2) two points.

Mississippi 89, Indiana 71: Murphy Holloway had 26 points and nine rebounds, leading Mississippi past the Hoosiers in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off.

Chris Warren scored 16 points and Eniel Polynice had 10 and seven assists for the Rebels, who shot 50 percent (35 for 70). Ole Miss (3-0) blocked 12 shots to Indiana’s two.

Maurice Creek scored 18 points, Verdell Jones had 17 and Jeremiah Rivers scored 14 but committed six of Indiana’s 21 turnovers. The Hoosiers (2-1) had 13 assists.

UNC-Wilmington 80, Penn State 69: Chad Tomko scored 21 points and North Carolina-Wilmington held Penn State to 32.3 percent shooting to knock off the Nittany Lions in Charleston, S.C.

UNC-Wilmington (2-1) shot 57.4 percent from the field (27-for-47) and made 10 of 16 3-point shots in the first round of the Charleston Classic.

Penn State (2-1) got 29 points from Talor Battle, who made 11 of 12 free throws. The Nittany Lions were 22-for-27 from the foul line for the game, but 21-for-65 from the field.