Tar Heels roll to victory over North Carolina Central
Marcus Ginyard matched his career high with 17 points to help No. 6 North Carolina beat visiting North Carolina Central, 89-42, last night in the 2K Sports Classic.
Deon Thompson scored 13 for the Tar Heels (2-0), who broke it open with 21 straight first-half points. North Carolina shot 69 percent in the opening half and 59 percent for the game, dominating the transitional Division I Eagles from nearby Durham in the first meeting between the schools.
The game marked the coaching debut for LeVelle Moton at Central, where he ranked third on the school's career scoring list. He inherits a team coming off a 4-27 season. C.J. Wilkerson led the Eagles (0-1) with 16 points, though they shot just 26 percent.
North Carolina, which beat Florida International in Isiah Thomas' college coaching debut Monday night, will step out of the Classic to benefit Coaches vs. Cancer with a weekend home game against Valparaiso on Sunday, then travel to New York to face Ohio State in the event next week.
In another game:
* At Syracuse, Andy Rautins made seven three-pointers and scored 22 points, leading the Orange past Robert Morris, 100-60, in the 2K Sports Classic.
Syracuse (2-0), which opened its season with a 75-43 victory over Albany on Monday night, will play California in a week at Madison Square Garden in the next round of the tournament.
Noteworthy
* Penn State signed touted high school guard Taran Buie - half-brother of Nittany Lions junior point guard Talor Battle - to a letter of intent.
Buie led his high school team in Albany, N.Y., to a state title and two straight undefeated regular seasons. He and his family moved over the summer to State College, where he will play his high school senior year.
* Forward Tim Hardaway Jr., son of five-time NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway, signed a letter of intent to play for Michigan.
* Virginia senior forward Jamil Tucker is taking an indefinite leave of absence from the team. Coach Tony Bennett would not specify the nature of the absence.
* Hawaii center Douglas Kurtz must sit out the Rainbow Warriors' first six games because he played three games in a professional league in his native Brazil in 2007. The 7-footer transferred to Hawaii from Marshalltown Community College in Iowa.
* Ohio State's women's team, ranked third in the nation, is suspending two seniors, two-time Big Ten defensive player of the year Shavelle Little and Cherise Daniel, for the first three games of the season for "an NCAA secondary rules violation." *
