TOP 25 ROUNDUP Tuesday’s games

Men

No. 1 North Carolina 106, Penn 71

PHILADELPHIA — North Carolina might not want to wait another 50 years to play in the famed Palestra. Tyler Hansbrough scored 29 points, Danny Green had 19 and North Carolina easily held off overmatched Penn. The Tar Heels, coming off an 86-77 win over Kentucky, are 8-0 for the first time since the 1998-99 season. They won their first game at the Palestra, the basketball cathedral that’s home to Philadelphia’s Big 5, since winning the NCAA tournament’s East Regional final in 1957. The Quakers (2-7) used some sensational shooting in the first half to keep the game close for about 15 minutes and send the sellout crowd of 8,722 into an upset-minded frenzy. They tried to run with the Tar Heels and that was a bad idea. North Carolina wore down the Ivy League’s Quakers and got easy points on the break and off turnovers to control the second half. North Carolina made 15 of its first 20 shots in the second half. Tyler Bernardini led Penn with a career-high 26 points and Brian Grandieri had 17. Each Penn fan received a rally towel and they could have used it to dry off in the steamy gym. The raucous fans lost most of their enthusiasm in the second half when the Tar Heels started to put this one away. Wayne Ellington, a Philadelphia-area native who played high school games at the Palestra, sank an open jumper from the left side that gave North Carolina a 73-48 lead. Hansbrough followed a few possessions later with a thunderous dunk in the open court for a 24-point lead. Quentin Thomas scored on a driving layup with 3:50 left to push North Carolina over the 100-point mark, 101-65. Even North Carolina coach Roy Williams, whose picture from his days at Kansas is on a collage of coaching greats on the Hall of Fame-type concourse, could sit at the end and enjoy this one. That sure wasn’t the case in the first 20 minutes. The Quakers played their best half of the year as they confidently kept pace with the up-tempo Tar Heels. Penn kept the deficit within 10 for most of the half and shot 57 percent from the floor — 14 percentage points higher than its season average. Andreas Schreiber’s 3-pointer pulled the Quakers within five midway through the half and the crowd erupted like it was a Big 5 game during the city series’ golden era. Hansbrough’s spin move on the baseline with 4:06 left put the Tar Heels ahead by 10 for the first time, 40-30. The Tar Heels were smart and sharp with the ball. They shot 50 percent and made only seven turnovers compared to 14 for the Quakers. And when North Carolina did miss, like when Ellington missed a layup, it was no problem. Green was streaking behind his teammate and had the easy putback for a 48-34 lead. The Tar Heels led 50-37 at the break.

Tennessee 76, Chattanooga 70

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Chris Lofton had 16 points, JaJuan Smith added 13 and Tennessee survived a scare. Playing their first true road test of the season, the Volunteers (8-1) shot a season-low 36 percent from the field. Tennessee’s only other games outside Knoxville were at neutral sites against Texas and West Virginia. Stephen McDowell had a team-high 14 points for Chattanooga, which fell to 5-30 against their in-state adversary. Marcus Watts added 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Nicchaeus Doaks had 11 points for the Mocs. Tennessee was outrebounded for the fourth game this season, and it almost cost them. Chattanooga (4-4) muscled their way past the Vols for much of the game, but a season-high 34 turnovers cost them a chance to score their second consecutive upset over Tennessee.

Associated Press