By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher
The No. 12 North Carolina Tar Heels men’s basketball team showed a lot of heart. It was this heart that led to them coming all the way back to win early Tuesday morning.
The Tar Heels won 92-90 over the Dayton Flyers in the 2024 Novavax Maui Invitational at the Lahaina Civic Center in Lahaina, Hawai’i.
North Carolina improved to 4-1 overall. According to the school, the team is 36-5 all-time in Hawai’i. In addition, the team is 23-4 in the Maui Invitational games, plus 19-3 in Lahaina.
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The Flyers suffered its first loss of the season, as they fell to 5-1 overall.
The Tar Heels trailed by 21 points in the second half. They were down by 18 points at halftime.
The 21-point comeback was the most since a 21-point comeback against the Florida State Seminoles on January 27th, 1993, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
With the win, the Tar Heels will face the No. 4 Auburn Tigers at 11 pm EST in the Maui Invitational semifinals. Like North Carolina, Auburn overcame a deficit — this time an 18-point deficit — to defeat the No. 5 Iowa State Cyclones.
The other semifinal matchup includes the Memphis Tigers and the Michigan State Spartans. This semifinal will take place on Tuesday at 6 pm EST.
The Cyclones will face the Flyers in the loser’s bracket on Tuesday.
North Carolina outscored Daytona by 20 points to be able to get the win. The Tar Heels scored 59 points in the second half while the Flyers scored just 39.
Late in the contest, the Flyers thought that they had tied the game at 90 points apiece. However, after a video review, it was determined that the three-pointer by Nate Santos with six seconds left was not a three-pointer.
It was ruled a long two-point basket as Santos had his foot on the line. Seconds later, the game was over.
R.J. Davis led the Tar Heels with 30 points. He also had seven rebounds, five assists, and one steal.
Three Tar Heels were in double figures. Seth Trimble also had 27 and Elliot Cadeau added 10 points.
The huge comeback caused Davis and Trimble to have season-high scoring outputs in this game.
North Carolina had 13 bench points. Drake Powell led the bench with six points. He also had four rebounds and two steals.
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Santos led the Flyers with 15 points. He also had five rebounds and two assists.
He was one of six Dayton players, who scored in double digits. Amaël L’Etang had 13 and Malachi Smith contributed 12.
Pesh Alexander and Enoch Cheeks scored 11 points apiece. Zed Key contributed 10 points.
The Flyers had 33 bench points. L’Etang led the bench with the aforementioned 13 points. He also had two rebounds.
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