TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — R.J. Davis scored 19 points, Leaky Black had 18 points and nine rebounds and North Carolina eased by Florida State 77-66 on Monday night for its third straight victory.
North Carolina pulled away in the first half with 11 3-pointers in building a 43-25 lead. Davis and Caleb Love each made three 3-pointers in the first half. The Tar Heels cooled off in the second half and finished 14 of 29 from distance.
North Carolina led by double figures for the first 15 minutes of the second half before Florida State went on a 9-0 run to get within 64-60 with 2:45 left. The Tar Heels made their final three field goals and went 7 of 8 from the stripe in the final 26 seconds to secure it.
Love scored 15 points and Pete Nance had 15 points and 10 rebounds for North Carolina (19-11, 11-8 ACC). Armando Bacot, averaging a team-high 17 points, missed his first four shots and didn’t score until making 1 of 2 free throws with 26.1 seconds remaining in the game.
North Carolina closes its regular season on Saturday at home against Duke in a game featured on ESPN’s College GameDay.
Caleb Mills scored 19 points and Matthew Cleveland had 12 points and nine rebounds for Florida State (9-21, 7-12), which plays at Virginia Tech on Saturday.
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