Nov. 15, 2007

Complete Stats in PDF Format

By Ben Baden

CHAPEL HILL - Highly touted Laurinburg Prep (Laurinburg, N.C.) fell to a more fundamentally sound and team-oriented Tar Heels junior varsity squad (3-0) at the Smith Center Thursday night.

Laurinburg Prep has a rich basketball history, funneling many players into Division I schools, most notably Charlie Scott, an all-American at UNC and an NBA all-star, and they usually have their way with the junior varsity team when they come to Chapel Hill.

"I don't remember the last time the junior varsity team has beaten Laurinburg Prep," said head coach Jerod Haase. "Talent-wise this is by far the most talented team we've played."

This is the first game this year where the varsity team didn't play immediately afterwards so the junior varsity had less of a fan base, but it was evident during warm-ups that the Heels were hyped to take down the talented prep team.

"As a whole we came out with a lot of energy," said starting shooting guard Terrence Petree, who played a great all-around game finishing with 10 points and six steals. "We didn't play like we were intimidated."

The Tar Heels have played an up and down game all year, not letting many minutes run off the shot clock before getting a shot off, and this game was no different.

The Tar Heels got off to a slow start, but it didn't take long for the team to regain its composure and take control the game. The Tar Heels took the lead from Laurinburg with 14:30 in the first half and held it for the duration of the game.

The team showed they could knock down open jumpers, finishing a solid 4-9 from the three-point line, compared to Laurinburg, who finished 3-19.

The Tar Heels never lost the lead, but the scoring was back and forth all game because of how quickly Laurinburg could score. Laurinburg was just never able to put much of a dent into the score in the final minutes of the game.

The Tar Heels committed 27 turnovers, compared to Laurinburg's 28. After the game Haase said he doesn't mind the team committing a few extra turnovers, but said he would like to see them cut down on a few of the careless ones.

Senior Marcus Wilson finished the night with a quiet 14 points, doing most of his work under the basket with put backs and lay-ups. He shot 7-12 from the field and grabbed six rebounds.

"I try to find an open spot under the basket," said Wilson. "I have to credit my teammates with looking out for me"

The junior varsity team was in high spirits after the game, realizing they accomplished something that hadn't been done in some time.

First-year player Thomas Thornton had his breakout game against the prep school shooting 4-9 from the field and hitting two three-pointers on his way to scoring 16 points.

"We were really up for this game," said leading scorer Thornton. "It's fun to play against these kinds of teams."

It's always more fun when your team wins.

The Tar Heels have two days off and play another game against Montreat College at 3 p.m. on Sunday.