CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Freshman Wendell Moore scored on a putback as time expired to help No. 7 Duke rally past North Carolina 98-96 in overtime in a wild renewal of the rivalry Saturday night.
Moore’s follow of Tre Jones’ missed off-balance jumper finally ended this one, a game that saw Duke rally from 13 down in the final 4 1/2 minutes of regulation. Jones forced overtime, hitting a contested jumper at the regulation horn after corralling his own intentionally missed free throw.
Jones finished with 28 points to lead the Blue Devils (20-3, 10-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), who trailed most of the night and led for only 1:47 of game action.
Cole Anthony scored 24 points to lead the Tar Heels (10-13, 3-9), who appeared unexpectedly in control of this one much of the way — only to be undone by missed free throws and an inability to come up with one or two more clutch plays to close this one out.
A disputed no-call in the final seconds of overtime gave Duke the ball and its chance to win. After a driving basket by Moore brought the Blue Devils to within 96-95 with 12 seconds left, the Tar Heels tried to inbounds the ball to Andrew Platek — only to see Moore knock the ball away and off Platek while making contact near the sideline.
Jones drew a foul with 6.6 seconds left on a drive and hit the first free throw to make it 96-all, but he missed the second only to have the rebound batted out beyond the arc. The Blue Devils got it back and Jones tried to follow his OT-forcing shot with an even bigger one.
He missed, but Moore was right at the rim for an easy putback at the horn, sending the Blue Devils spilling from their bench onto the court to celebrate one of the wildest games in the rivalry’s recent history.
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