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Aren’t rivalries fun?
Following a massive ACC-title clinching win over No. 9 Duke on the road Saturday night, No. 7 North Carolina rubbed salt in the wound, waving goodbye to a stunned crowd of Cameron Crazies.
The Tar Heels played front-runners throughout on Saturday, but things got hairy late.
Leading by as many as 15 points, North Carolina was seemingly in control, nursing an eight-point lead with 1:39 left in the second half. However, they needed to fend off two mini-runs late by Duke, with a clutch jumper from guard Elliot Cadeau and two game-sealing free-throws by point guard Cormac Ryan.
Ryan closing things out was fitting, as he was a thorn in the Blue Devils’ side all night long. The senior paced the Tar Heels effort, leading all scorers with 31 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field and 6-of-8 from beyond the arc.
Forward Harrison Ingram was the only other North Carolina player to finish in double figures, recording 14 points to go along with a team-high 10 rebounds.
As usual, the matchup between the historic adversaries had its fair share of controversial calls and, of course, some on-court shenanigans. One such moment came late in the first half when Duke center Kyle Filipowski appeared to trip Ingram on purpose.
However, Filipowski, who recently escaped severe injury after getting caught in a court-rushing crossfire, walked away from the altercation limping, implying that the contact with Ingram was unintentional.
For North Carolina (24-6, 16-3), the victory clinched a season sweep of Duke and an ACC title outright for the first time since 2016-17.
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