UNC Basketball: Tar Heels run away from Northeastern in second half

UNC basketball finds its groove in second half, tops Northeastern by final score of 82-62

Day’Ron Sharpe scored a team-high 15 points to go along with eight rebounds, as North Carolina beat Northeastern by a final score of 82-62 on Wednesday night.

Sharpe was 7-for-14 from the floor and 1-for-1 at the free throw line, while adding a block, a steal and an assist off the UNC bench. Fellow reserve big man Walker Kessler added 10 points and seven rebounds in one of his best performances of the season. He knocked down 4-of-8 shots overall, including 1-of-2 from three-point range.

Freshman shooting guard Kerwin Walton led the Tar Heels’ starting lineup in scoring with 14 points. He shot 50 percent for the game, and connected on 3-of-7 from long-range. Garrison Brooks had a difficult 4-for-13 shooting night, but scored 11 points and pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds for his second double-double of the season. Caleb Love struggled with his shot, too, scoring just six points on 2-of-8 shooting from the floor. He did have a career-high nine assists, however, and turned the ball over just twice.

North Carolina shot 42.7 percent as a team, despite another poor performance from beyond the arc (5-for-17). The did convert an unusually high percentage of their free throws (13-of-16, 81.3 percent), though, and outrebounded Northeastern by 15. They also had 20 assists on 32 made buckets, and just 10 turnovers as a team.

Northeastern was led by Tyson Walker, who scored a game-high 27 points on 8-of-15 shooting and 4-of-7 from long-distance. 21 of his 27 points came in the first half, and he scored 19 of his team’s first 21 points. Freshman forward Coleman Stucke was the only other Husky to score in double-figures; he had 14 points and four made three-pointers. Northeastern trailed by just 11 points at halftime, before North Carolina built a comfortable second half lead.

The loss drops Northeastern to 9-8 overall, and 4-7 on the road. The Tar Heels improve to 13-7 on the season, and keep their perfect home record intact (7-0).

The Tar Heels’ next scheduled game is against the Louisville Cardinals on Saturday night. Their following game, a Tuesday night matchup with Boston College, has already been postponed due to positive tests, subsequent quarantining, and contact tracing within the Eagles’ program.

Check back with Keeping It Heel for all the latest on the UNC basketball program.