Late Miami Rally Falls Short Against UNC
Dec. 18, 1999
By MARK LONG
Associated Press Writer
SUNRISE, Fla. – North Carolina’s Jason Capel did little wrong for thesecond consecutive game.
And that should scare everyone on the Tar Heels’ schedule.
Capel, a sophomore forward, had 20 points and 11 rebounds and No. 7 NorthCarolina withstood a late rally to beat Miami 78-68 in the Orange Bowl Classicon Saturday.
The Tar Heels (8-2) needed only two baskets in the final six minutes. Therest of their points came at the free-throw line, where they hit 9-of-12 downthe stretch.
Capel connected on eight of 10 free throws and was selected the game’s MVP.
He recorded his first back-to-back, 20-point outings of his career. Capelscored 21 points against Tennessee Tech last week.
“Jason Capel was sensational,” North Carolina coach Bill Guthridge said.
Miami (4-3) cut the deficit to 69-64 with 1:44 remaining behind the play ofJohnny Hemsley, who led the Hurricanes with 21 points.
Hemsley hit a running one-hander, a 3-pointer and added a three-point playas the Hurricanes fought back from a 13-point halftime deficit. Hemsley hadshooting troubles, missing 22 of 30 shots, including nine of 10 from 3-pointrange.
Hemsley was just 2-of-13 in the first half with four points.
“In the first half, Johnny Hemsley might have had the best looks he’s hadall year,” Miami coach Leonard Hamilton said. “They just didn’t fall. He’s arhythm shooter. Tonight just wasn’t his night, but 90 percent of his shots wereshots we’d encourage him to take.”
Hemsley, the only Miami player to score during a seven-minute stretch in thesecond half, wasn’t enough.
Max Owens had 17 points, Joseph Forte 14 and Ed Cota 11 as the Tar Heels wonfor the seventh time in eight games away from home this season.
North Carolina used runs of 12-2 and 8-2 in the first half to build a 41-28lead at the break.
Miami cut the lead to 46-37 early in the second half, but the Tar Heelsscored the next seven points and looked ready to pull away.
Hemsley kept the game close, though. He reeled off 15 straight points,outscoring the Tar Heels 13-6 at one point, but got little help from histeammates.
“Hemsley’s too good a player to not make some shots,” Capel said. “Theykept coming back, but we played good defense and finally put them away. We knewthey’d make a run. We just had to weather the storm.”
John Salmons hit a layup with 34 seconds to play to become the first playerother than Hemsley to score for the ‘Canes since the 7:43 mark in the secondhalf. Salmons finished with 15 points.
Cota, Owens and Forte combined to hit 5-of-6 free throws in the finalminute.
“This was probably our best game of the year because of the quality of theopponent,” Guthridge said. “That was a very good win for us. We played acomplete game, but I could be like a football coach and tell you I still haveto look at film.”
