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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- North Carolina's Max Owens is at a loss
to explain why the Charlotte Coliseum is so consistently kind to
him.
"I never really thought the building was anything extra
special, but I guess I just feel real comfortable playing here,"
Owens said after he had 23 points and fueled a pair of runs that
sent No. 2 North Carolina over UNLV 102-78 Saturday night in the
title game of the Food Lion MVP Classic.
Owens, a junior guard who added five rebounds and two steals,
has three career 20-point games. All have come in the Charlotte
Coliseum.
"We always feel kind of at home here," Owens said. "I guess
it's because we've got most of the crowd backing us,"
Jason Capel, a sophomore forward who had a career-high 23 points, has registered his four best scoring games at the coliseum.
Ed Cota added 17 assists, tying Jeff Lebo's school single-game
record and pushing his career total to 805, as the Tar Heels (5-1)
won the tournament for the seventh time and improved their record
in the event to 18-2.
"Seventeen assists and just two turnovers," coach Bill
Guthridge said, shaking his head. "I thought he ran things
perfectly."
Guthridge said he was most pleased by the fact that the two
victories the Tar Heels needed to win the tournament came after
North Carolina lost at home to No. 8 Michigan State earlier in the
week.
"You don't like to have that taste of defeat in your mouth,"
he said. "I thought we responded very well."
UNLV came up one victory short of its first 6-0 start since
1992-93.
"We played well for a while," Rebels' coach Bill Bayno said, "but
then things just kind of snowballed on us."
The Runnin' Rebels had 18 turnovers that the Tar Heels converted
into 24 points.
"We uncharacteristically turned the ball over in transition,
which hurt us," Bayno said. "We haven't really done that all
season."
Kaspars Kambala had 20 points and six rebounds and Trevor Diggs
had 15 points to lead the Runnin' Rebels.
Owens powered a 19-2 run in the first half that put North
Carolina ahead to stay, and he fueled the 10-0 surge in the second
that countered the Runnin' Rebels' last threat.
Down by as many as 17 late in the first half, UNLV cut it to 13
at the break and then reduced it to five three times early in the
second half. The last time was at 54-49 on Issiah Epps' follow shot
with 14:22 remaining.
After Cota started the decisive run when he fed Orlando Melendez
for an alley-oop dunk, Owens made several key plays.
He followed his own miss on North Carolina's next possession,
then drew a foul and made two free throws the next time the Tar
Heels got the ball. Two possessions later, he drew a charge,
leading to a short jumper by Brendan Haywood that made it 64-49
with 11:51 left.
"We used a lot of energy to get it back to five points," Bayno
said. "I think we just kind of ran out of gas at that point. But
they're a good team. They made a couple of big shots and we missed
a few, and the next thing you know, we're scrambling."
The Tar Heels stretched it to 80-58 at the 6:30 mark before both
coaches began liberally substituting.
UNLV was up 9-8 before Owens fueled the surge that put the Tar
Heels ahead to stay. Owens had four points, one steal, a block and
an assist as North Carolina raced to a 27-11 lead midway through
the half. The Tar Heels forced five turnovers in the run and
converted them into eight points.
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ALSO SEE
Mens College Basketball Scoreboard
Nevada Las Vegas Clubhouse
North Carolina Clubhouse
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