Freshman RJ Davis scored 16 points and No. 14 North Carolina recovered from an ugly start to beat UNLV 78-51 on Monday night in the first round of the relocated Maui Invitational.
Garrison Brooks added 14 points and surpassed the 1,000-point mark for his career in the first half for the Tar Heels (2-0), who fell behind 13-0 and didn’t score for the first 6 1/2 minutes. But UNC gradually closed the gap, then had a 28-4 run spanning halftime to build its own big lead on the way to a rout.
Senior reserve Andrew Platek had 11 points and hit a pair of first-half 3-pointers as UNC sputtered out of the tipoff.
Bryce Hamilton scored 15 points for the Runnin’ Rebels (0-2), who went from hitting everything to missing everything as the Tar Heels took over. After that 5-for-5 start, UNLV made just 13 of 57 shots (22.8%) the rest of the way.
No. 17 TEXAS 78, DAVIDSON 76
Courtney Ramey had the go-ahead driving score with 20 seconds left for No. 17 Texas in the opening game of the Maui Invitational.
Ramey’s score broke a 76-all tie, then the Longhorns (2-0) came up with a pair of stops on the final possession, when the Wildcats (1-1) had a chance to tie or win.
Davidson’s Sam Mennenga missed a contested 3-pointer from the wing, but the Wildcats got another shot when the ball went out of bounds with 3.8 seconds left.
The Wildcats inbounded again to Mennenga, who missed a final 3 for the win with Texas’ Andrew Jones closely defending him. Mennenga turned toward the official at the horn, while Davidson coach Bob McKillop also protested slightly before leaving the court.
Ramey scored 14 points to lead the Longhorns. Jones finished with 13 points in his season debut, as did Kai Jones.
Mennenga scored 17 points to lead Davidson.