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Off the cuff: Against Clemson, North Carolina fans must have felt they'd seen this picture before. The Tar Heels were turning the ball over and the opponent was hitting threes to get out to a big lead.

Carolina turned it over four times by the time the first TV timeout came around and trailed 14-3. The Tar Heels trailed by 10 at the half but clamped down a bit in the second half to get the game close down the wire.

Barnes, who scored 40, hit his sixth triple with 1:22 left to bring the Heels with a bucket at 73-71. Then Zeller scored to send the game into overtime. Barnes tallied 14 points in the overtime period.

"In the second half we got more aggressive, the defense was better and Harrison made a bunch of shots," said UNC coach Roy Williams. "We've got to be more aggressive ourselves and not let the other team be the aggressor."

It's been fun for fans of basketball to see the comebacks the last two days but you have to figure that the Heels won't be able to do that again in the finals of the ACC tournament or in the NCAA tournament.

Tar Heels 92, Clemson 87
Barnes drops in 40 as Heels come back

Harrison Barnes scored 40 points to will North Carolina to a 92-87 win in overtime over Clemson after the Tar Heels fell down by 14 points. (3/12)

The Tigers led most of the way and got the lead up to 14 at 36-22 late in first half following a Tanner Smith three. But the Tar Heels chipped away until taking a 53-52 lead midway through the second half on a nifty pass from Dexter Strickland to Tyler Zeller for the layup.

However a pair of threes by Clemson put the Tigers back up by five and they held a lead the rest of the way until the very end. Barnes drilled a three with 1:22 left to draw the Heels within two at 73-71. After a Clemson shot-clock violation, Zeller banged in a jump hook to tie it at 73-all with 30 seconds left

Demontez Stitt, who led Clemson with a career-high 25 points, worked hard against a tough UNC defense but was way off on a last-second shot and the game went to overtime.

Barnes popped in a three from the wing with 4:12 left and less than a minute later Kendall Marshall lofted in another to give the Tar Heels a 79-73 lead that they would not relinquish.

Clemson's Andre Young hit a couple of threes in the last 17 seconds to make it closer but Barnes converted four free throws to hold the Tigers at bay.

Barnes was 12 of 17 from the floor, including six of eight from beyond the arc, and 10 of 11 from the free throw line en route to his 40 points, a freshman tournament record. Only Carolina legends Lennie Rosenbluth and Charlie Scott have scored more points in an ACC tournament game.

John Henson scored 18 points and hauled in 11 rebounds for Carolina, which advances to the tourney finals with a 26-6 record. Zeller added 14 for the Heels, who play at 1 p.m. Sunday in the championship game.

Boxscore

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