Elliot Cadeau made a key basket in the final minute to help Carolina survive a frantic Syracuse rally and earn an 88-82 win at the JMA Wireless Dome on Saturday night. The win snaps a four-game losing streak in true road games for the Tar Heels.

Freshman star Ian Jackson shook off a recent scoring slump to lead Carolina with 23 points. He finished 5-10 on three-pointers, part of a 13-28 barrage by the Tar Heels which tied a season high for threes made. Jae’Lyn Withers put together one of his best games as a Tar Heel, setting a new season high with 19 points on 7-10 shooting. Withers came a point away from tying his career high, which he achieved twice at Louisville.

Carolina never trailed on the night, but never pushed its lead out to larger than 11 points. The biggest advantage came at 39-28 early in the second half, but Syracuse started the half hot to keep the pressure on the Tar Heels. The Orange made 10 of their first 14 shots after halftime, tying the game at 60-60 and then again at 62-62 on a dunk from bruising big man Eddie Lampkin. Lampkin finished with a career-high 26 points.

UNC appeared ready to pull away again moments later, though, as Withers scored eight consecutive points to put the Tar Heels ahead 73-64. The Carolina lead was 81-73 before Syracuse’s last gasp rally.

The Orange used a full-court press defense and capitalized on missed UNC free throws to claw back to within 82-80 at the 1:01 mark, but Cadeau spun his way past his defender for a wide-open layup in the final minute to push Carolina’s lead back to multiple possessions. Syracuse wouldn’t get that close again, as Davis and Drake Powell made all four of their free throw attempts in the final seconds.

The win improves Carolina to 15-11 overall and 8-6 in ACC play. The Tar Heels will be back in action when they host NC State at the Smith Center on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.

 

Featured image via Associated Press/Adrian Kraus

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