North Carolina Tar Heels withstand ejection, rally to oust Baylor Bears in NCAA tournament
FORT WORTH, Texas -- North Carolina may have lost Brady Manek to an ejection in the second half, but the Tar Heels withstood a furious rally to beat the top-seeded Baylor Bears 93-86 in overtime in the NCAA tournament on Saturday.
Baylor, the defending champions, trailed by as many as 25 points in the second half and was attempting to tie the largest comeback in NCAA tournament history.
The Bears tied the game 80-80 on a 3-point play with 16.7 seconds remaining, and the Tar Heels missed a shot at the buzzer to win it.
Manek had a second-high 26 points for the No. 8 seeded Tar Heels when he was ejected for elbowing Baylor's Jeremy Sochan in the face while blocking him out for a rebound.
Moments earlier, Manek hit a 3-pointer that gave the eighth-seeded Tar Heels a 25-point lead against the defending champs with 10:49 remaining.
Sochan fell to the court as a referee whistled a foul on Manek. The flagrant foul ruling and ejection came after a review.
Sochan tangled with North Carolina center Armando Bacot in the first half and again shortly after Manek was ejected. Each drew a technical for excessive contact. Sochan was penalized for the first incident, Bacot for the second.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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