North Carolina Wins the Atlantic Coast Title
By Audrey Nolan
North Carolina won their first Atlantic Coast tournament title since 1998 with a victory of 89-80 against North Carolina State on Sunday. They are taking force in these tournaments for March Madness.
North Carolina lost two of their three last regular season games on a row, but they played really well on the tournament and received the top seed on the East Regional and will play Eastern Kentucky in the first round on the NCAA tournament.
N.C. State reached the title game with an improbable run that included upsets of second-seeded Virginia, third-seeded Virginia Tech and defending champion Duke, which had won seven of the previous eight ACC titles. Winning four games in four days was a little too much.
“By no means am I disappointed,” said Sidney Lowe, N.C. State’s first-year coach. “I told our guys _`You can be hurt, but don’t be disappointed because there’s nothing to be disappointed about’”.
The Tar Heels had eight consecutive years without the title but the contribution of key players like Hansbrough, playing with a faceguard to protect his broken nose, scored nine straight points for North Carolina during one stretch of the second half, and Wright scored 14 of his 16 points in the first half.
Lawson was the one who held it all together. Terry showed veteran leadership by taking over at a difficult time, ultimately delivering the biggest blow to N.C. State’s hopes a 3-pointer that put his team up 78-72 with 3 minutes left.
About the Author:
Audrey Nolan is a high-ranking writer on sports for the online betting industry. You can also find more of her work at http://www.instantactionsports.com.
Feel free to reprint this article in its whole on your site, make sure to leave all links in place and do not modify any of the content.
Technorati Tags: North Carolina, Atlantic Coast, March Madness, East Regional, Eastern Kentucky, NCAA tournament, Virginia Tech, ACC, Sidney Lowe, Hansbrough
