GREENSBORO, N.C. – Shane Larkin scored a career-high 28 points, eight in the final 2½ minutes, to help No. 9 Miami pull away late and beat North Carolina 87-77 in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament championship Sunday.
Trey McKinney Jones added a career-high 20 for the top-seeded Hurricanes (27-6), including the go-ahead 3-pointer from the left corner with 6:27 left that started Miami's final push to secure the program's first ACC tournament title.
In a terrific back-and-forth game filled with big shots, the Hurricanes finally slowed P.J. Hairston and the third-seeded Tar Heels (24-10) enough down the stretch to secure what amounted to a road win in front of UNC's home-state crowd.
Hairston scored 28 points and had six of the Tar Heels' 13 3-pointers, the most in the program's tournament history. But it wasn't enough to secure UNC's first ACC title since 2008 nor coach Roy Williams' 700th career victory.
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