Tuesday ACC Hoops

Leslie McDonald

NORTH CAROLINA 78, Rutgers (Scarlet Knights, 38,902 students, Piscataway, NJ) 55 – Leslie McDonald scored 14 points to lead a balanced North Carolina offense in a win over Rutgers on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.

“We haven’t had any practices since the day before the William and Mary game,” Williams said. “We were coming in (to New York) on Sunday and practicing here Sunday night, but flights were canceled. We did have a shootaround but had only 10 out of 16 players.”

North Carolina, like most schools, almost never arrives at an out-of-state game on the day of the contest. The Tar Heels (9-4) were forced to change their plans after a blizzard dumped nearly two feet of snow on the ground in New York.

It didn’t seem to matter as they began the game with a 14-2 run and never looked back – hitting 11 of 23 three-pointers.

Justin Watts added 10 points for the Heels, who have won five of their past six games.

“Key to the game is a lot of guys came off the bench and we outscored them 38-13,” Williams said.

Jonathan Mitchell scored 20 points for the Scarlet Knights (9-3), who had their six-game winning streak end.

Rutgers scored the first five points of the second half before North Carolina answered with seven straight to put the game away.



Javier Gonzalez



N.C. STATE 82, Alabama A&M (Bulldogs, 5,000 students, Normal, AL) 51 – Scott Wood scored 18 points to help North Carolina State beat Alabama A&M on Tuesday afternoon.

Freshman Ryan Harrow added 14 points for the Wolfpack (8-4), who have won four of five games. Fellow rookie C.J. Leslie also scored 14 to go with 11 rebounds, three blocks and four steals.

Casey Cantey scored 14 points for the Bulldogs (3-6), who lost their fourth straight. Alabama A&M shot 32 percent and missed all 15 of its 3-point tries.