No. 1 North Carolina survives scare
Top-ranked North Carolina avoided an early season upset.
Just barely.
Wayne Ellington scored 20 points and made key plays late to help the host Tar Heels avoid a major scare and a subpar second half from Tyler Hansbrough to beat Davidson 72-68 on Wednesday night.
Trailing for much of the second half, North Carolina (1-0) closed the game strong. Ellington's free throw with 3:44 left put the Tar Heels ahead to stay. His jumper with just over a minute left made it a 3-point game. Ty Lawson then hit 3 of 4 free throws in the final 30 seconds to preserve the win.
Hansbrough had 14 points and 14 rebounds, but he was ineffective in the second half and got into foul trouble.
Stephen Curry scored 24 points for Davidson (1-1).
Tenn. 101, Ark.-Mont. 44: Tyler Smith scored 15 points, and JaJuan Smith added 14 to help No. 7 Tennessee (2-0) beat visiting Division II Arkansas-Monticello in the first round of the StubHub Legends Classic.
MSU 83, La.-Monroe 65: Freshman Chris Allen scored 17 points and All-American Drew Neitzel had 15 to help No. 12 Michigan State (2-0) withstand a 3-point barrage and beat Louisiana-Monroe in a CBE Classic regional final in East Lansing, Mich.
Jordan Payne had 27 points for the Warhawks (1-2).
Chicago St. 89, N. Mich. 50: David Holston scored 39 points as Chicago State (1-2) beat Northern Michigan (0-1) in a CBE Classic regional consolation game at East Lansing, Mich. Tyler Kazmierkoski had 18 points for Northern Michigan (0-1).