In bid for its first ACC Tournament title, Clemson falls to No. 1 UNC 86-81

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Shooting for their first Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championship in the 55-year history of the event, the Clemson Tigers (24-8) lost to the No. 1 North Carolina Tar Heels 86-81 on Sunday at Bobcats Arena.

The Tigers were appearing in the championship game for only the second time, and the first time since 1962. They lost that year to Wake Forest and future CBS college basketball analyst Billy Packer 77-66 after defeating Duke 77-72 in the semifinals.

Clemson advanced to today’s game with a 78-74 victory over No. 7 Duke in Saturday’s semifinals. The Tigers ended a 22-game losing streak to the Blue Devils.

North Carolina (31-2) advanced with a 68-66 victory over Virginia Tech.

The Tar Heels have won 17 ACC Tournament championships.

Clemson is 15-55 in the 55-year ACC Tournament history and is the league’s only charter member never to win the tournament title.

Tonight, the Tigers are expected to receive an invitation to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1998. They could have made that an automatic bid with a victory over North Carolina.

Clemson lost to the Tar Heels twice in the regular season, in overtime at home and in double overtime on the road.

On Jan. 6 in Littlejohn Coliseum, the Heels rallied to force overtime and took a 90-88 win on Wayne Ellington’s 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left.

On Feb. 10 in Chapel Hill, Clemson led by 11 points with 3:19 left before UNC rallied to force overtime, and the Tar Heels eventually won 103-93 in double overtime.

Clemson is 1-63 all-time against the Tar Heels in games played in the state of North Carolina.

Ellington finished with 24 points while Tyler Hansbrough had 18 to lead North Carolina, which almost certainly locked up a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Ty Lawson had 12 points, five rebounds and eight assists for the Tar Heels, who earned their 11th consecutive victory. Hansbrough was named the tournament's most valuable player, finishing with 11 rebounds one day after hitting the last-second shot to beat Virginia Tech in the semifinals.

Ellington, a 6-foot-4 sophomore, continued his seasonlong torture of the third-seeded Tigers (24-9), finishing 10-for-13 from the field to go with four rebounds and four assists. In January, he had a career-high 36 points and hit a last-second 3-pointer to give the Tar Heels' a 90-88 overtime road victory. A month later, he finished with 28 points as North Carolina rallied from 15 points down to beat Clemson 103-93 in double overtime, a loss that dropped the Tigers to 0-53 all-time in Chapel Hill.

This time, Ellington hit his first five shots to outduel Clemson's K.C. Rivers in a back-and-forth game that was in doubt until the final seconds.

Rivers, playing in his hometown, finished with 28 points and six 3-pointers for the Tigers, who led 39-38 at halftime before the Tar Heels finally pushed ahead by getting out in transition for easy scores. The Tar Heels hit 15 of 20 shots to open the second half, using a 12-2 run to finally get some separation and eventually take a 72-59 lead on Danny Green's 3-pointer with 8:02 left.

While the lead ultimately held up, Clemson wouldn't go away. The Tigers ran off eight straight points to get back in the game, and twice closed within four in the final 3 1/2 minutes. But they got no closer, with North Carolina hitting enough free throws on a shaky day at the line to hang onto the lead.

North Carolina shot 49 percent and held a 49-34 rebounding advantage which led to 20 second-chance points. The Tar Heels scored 26 points off the Tigers' 17 turnovers and scored 34 fast-break points by attacking Clemson's fullcourt press, offsetting a 14-for-24 day at the free throw line.

Green finished with 12 points, while Marcus Ginyard added 10 points and nine rebounds for the Tar Heels.

Trevor Booker had 12 points for Tigers, who shot 42 percent.

Read more about the Clemson-UNC game later today on IndependentMail.com.