The No. 12 North Carolina men’s basketball team scraped by Boston College Saturday afternoon in Chestnut Hill to take a 79-68 win and improve to 18-6 on the season and 8-3 in ACC play.

With the loss, the Eagles dropped to 9-13 overall and 1-9 in league action.

UNC forward Isaiah Hicks tallied a career-high 21 points on 7-10 shooting to lead the scoring charge. Tar Heel junior Brice Johnson added in 20 points and nine rebounds.

“Isaiah, needless to say, gave us a huge game,” UNC head coach Roy Williams says. “It was a contrast of two teams. Our strength is getting the ball inside and theirs is Hanlan driving to the basket.”

As for the Eagles, Olivier Hanlan totaled a whopping 30 points to lead all scorers, but it wasn’t enough to top a focused UNC squad.

UNC came out of the gates sluggishly, lagging behind Boston College in the early going. The Tar Heels struggled to get things going on the offensive end while the Eagles knocked down a few timely jumpers to stick their nose in front.

With 7:51 to play in the opening half, Boston College held a 22-17 advantage with 7:51 on the clock.

From there, Carolina started to get in the flow and worked the ball in the paint for some slid finishes. At intermission, it was a tie ballgame. The Tar Heels and Eagles were locked up at 36 points apiece.

Coach Williams must have given the Tar Heels their track shoes in the halftime locker room. UNC played at the warp-speed pace it likes and ran away from BC in the closing 20 minutes of play.

Johnson, Paige and Hicks stepped up and impressed. The Tar Heels’ purposeful attack proved too much for the Eagles in the end. The 10-point lead with 8:15 to play held strong down the stretch.

Next up for the Tar Heels comes another road trip to Atlanta to take on the ever-improving Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets next Saturday.

FINAL BOX SCORE

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