Thompson helps defending champion North Carolina end 3-game skid, beat NC State 77-63

North Carolina regroups, beats NC State 77-63

RALEIGH, N.C. — Deon Thompson scored 20 points and North Carolina ended its longest losing streak in nearly seven years by beating North Carolina State 77-63 on Tuesday night.

Larry Drew II scored 18 points for the Tar Heels (13-7, 2-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), who snapped their first three-game losing streak under coach Roy Williams. They also finally earned their first road win, something they desperately needed to do if they had any hopes of regrouping in the final month of the regular season.

North Carolina shot 51 percent and held the Wolfpack scoreless for more than 8 minutes in the second half, helping the Tar Heels build a 17-point lead in front of a stunned home crowd for N.C. State.

Tracy Smith scored 20 points for the Wolfpack (13-8, 2-5), who couldn’t follow up last week’s upset of Duke with another win against a nearby rival.

North Carolina had dominated the series since Williams’ arrival before the 2003-04 season, winning 12 of 13 meetings and five of six on the Wolfpack’s homecourt in the RBC Center. The lone loss was a memorable upset of the highly ranked Tar Heels in 2007, a win in Lowe’s first season that ended with fans storming the court.

N.C. State fans got the chance to do it again last week when the Wolfpack upset the then-No. 7 Blue Devils for the first time since that season. And despite a lopsided loss at Maryland over the weekend, they were eager for the struggling Tar Heels to come to Raleigh.

Instead, the Tar Heels turned in their toughest and most composed performance since the second half of their win against Virginia Tech more than two weeks ago. They didn’t panic when Javi Gonzalez scored 15 of his 19 points in 4½ minutes to help the Wolfpack erase an early nine-point deficit and go ahead by five early in the second half. Nor did they look rattled by the hostile environment, using a 22-4 run to build a double-digit lead and cruise the rest of the night.

Thompson bounced back with his best game in more than a month, going 9 for 14 from the floor and even taking a steal across midcourt, blowing by Gonzalez and dunking over Scott Wood in the decisive run. Davis, whose status was in doubt due to an ankle injury, had 12 points and nine rebounds while taking the lead in trying to slow N.C. State’s Tracy Smith inside.

Smith was swarmed by blue shirts much of the night and had two of his shots blocked by freshman John Henson on helpside defense. That put more pressure on the Wolfpack’s perimeter, and — outside of Gonzalez’s flurry — those players didn’t respond.

After Gonzalez’s tip-in gave the Wolfpack a 43-38 lead, North Carolina’s defense forced N.C. State into 12 straight misses. That gave the Tar Heels’ offense a chance to build some momentum, and they didn’t blow that opportunity.

The Tar Heels tied the game on Thompson’s turnaround with 13:30 left, then pushed ahead for good on Dexter Strickland’s layup by two defenders a minute later. Next came a scooping layup from Henson, a dunk from Strickland off a turnover and then Thompson’s rim-rattling dunk that had the North Carolina bench jumping in cheers.

Suddenly, North Carolina led 51-43 with 10 minutes left. While Smith scored to end the long drought, the Tar Heels kept the pressure on and steadily pulled away in the final minutes.