March 3, 2005

Box Score |  Quotes |  Notes

By AARON BEARD
AP Sports Writer

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) - Sean May scored a career-high 32 points and had 12 rebounds Thursday night to help No. 2 North Carolina beat Florida State 91-76, giving the Tar Heels at least a share of the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title.

Freshman Marvin Williams added 17 points, and Raymond Felton had 15 for the Tar Heels (25-3, 13-2 ACC), who have won 11 of 12 games to earn their first league title in four years.

North Carolina, which played without scoring leader Rashad McCants for the third straight game because of an intestinal disorder, can clinch the top seed in next week's ACC tournament - which would mark its first outright league crown since the NCAA championship season in 1993 - with a home win against No. 6 Duke on Sunday.

Al Thornton scored 19 points to lead the Seminoles (11-18, 3-12), who have lost nine straight games.

North Carolina had all kinds of trouble early with the pesky Seminoles, who seemingly couldn't miss in the first half and led 54-52 with about 13 minutes to play. But the Tar Heels played better defensively in the second half, going ahead to stay on a 3-pointer from Melvin Scott and gradually building a double-digit margin.

May was key in that effort, going 13-for-15 and finishing with his seventh straight double-double. That included hitting all 10 of his shots in the second half, and scoring 12 points in a decisive run that put the Tar Heels ahead 81-68 with about four minutes left.

The 6-foot-9 junior reached the 1,000-point mark for his career with nine points in the first half, making him the 57th player in school history to reach the plateau. His previous career high was 28 points against Georgia Tech last season.

May led a balanced effort by the Tar Heels, who won despite missing McCants' 16 points per game. Felton had 10 assists and five rebounds, while junior reserve David Noel had a career-best eight assists.

Florida State certainly surprised the Tar Heels in the first half, shooting 60 percent and hitting eight 3-pointers to lead 44-41 at the break. Waleskowski and Thorton led that effort, combining for 24 points on 10-for-12 shooting.

And while the Tar Heels shot 53 percent in the half, that shoddy defensive performance no doubt had coach Roy Williams seething in the locker room.

In the second half, the Tar Heels held Florida State to 11-for-30 shooting, partly through better defensive intensity and partly from the Seminoles finally coming back down to earth.

After Scott's 3 gave the Tar Heels a 55-54 lead, May followed with a jumper and an alley-oop slam off a feed from Felton for a five-point edge. He later twice got loose inside off feeds from Noel, who also assisted on a 3 from Williams during that run.

May punctuated his career night with a powerful slam for a 91-76 lead with about 30 seconds left.