No. 1 North Carolina rolls to Maui title

Published 4:00 am Thursday, November 27, 2008

LAHAINA, Hawaii — Tyler Hansbrough had 34 points against a top-10 team and his coach said he’s about 75 percent. Top-ranked North Carolina won the EA Sports Maui Invitational by almost 30 points per game and its coach said the team can get a lot better.

Wow.

Hansbrough, playing in just his third game of the season because of leg injuries, led the Tar Heels to a 102-87 victory over No. 8 Notre Dame on Wednesday night in the championship game to win this title for the third time.

“He’s about 75 percent but he played better than that tonight. He was really fired up,” North Carolina coach Roy Williams said of the reigning national player of the year. “It’s been tearing at him not to be able to play.”

It showed.

Hansbrough was 13-of-19 from the field, hitting his shots down low, throwing down dunks and even making a three-pointer. He grabbed five rebounds and blocked two shots, including one by Notre Dame’s Luke Harangody, like Hansbrough a preseason All-America.

It wasn’t all Hansbrough for the Tar Heels (6-0), however.

Point guard Ty Lawson had too much speed in the open court for the Fighting Irish (4-1) and he finished with 22 points and 11 assists. He was selected tournament MVP after totaling 22 assists against two turnovers in the three games.

Harangody, who had to cover and be covered by Hansbrough despite being sick all day, had 13 points and seven rebounds.

Also on Wednesday:

No. 10 Purdue 71

Boston College 64

NEW YORK — E’Twaun Moore scored 19 points and Purdue withstood a late rally to beat Boston College in the semifinals of the NIT Season Tip-Off. JaJuan Johnson added 12 points, Keaton Grant had 11 and Robbie Hummel 10 for the Boilermakers (5-0), who led by 19 with about 6½ minutes left before the Eagles started whittling the lead.

No. 11 Oklahoma 77

UAB 67

NEW YORK — Blake Griffin scored 32 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to help Oklahoma beat Alabama-Birmingham in the other NIT Season-Tip Off semifinal at Madison Square Garden. Trailing 62-60 with 5:09 left in a back-and-forth game, Oklahoma (5-0) closed with a 17-5 run.

Marketplace