Men's Basketball Battles to the End in 94-87 Loss at 19th-Ranked North Carolina

Friday, November 12

Chapel Hill, N.C.

9:00 PM

Brown University

1-1,0-0Ivy League

North Carolina

2-0,0-0ACC

Brown

North Carolina

Photo by: Andy Mead

Men's Basketball Battles to the End in 94-87 Loss at 19th-Ranked North Carolina

11/13/2021 12:29:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The Brown Bears (1-1, 0-0 Ivy) gave the 19th-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels (2-0, 0-0 ACC) all they could handle Friday night at the Dean Smith Center, ultimately falling 94-87 in a back-and-forth contest.

Dan Friday led the Bears with 21 points (8-14 FG) and Nana Owusu-Anane finished with 20 points and a team-leading eight rebounds.

"I thought our guys did a good job playing with confidence and competing," said head coach Mike Martin, "It's a team full of competitors and guys with an edge so this is what we had hoped for. We think we can compete with most people in most places."

Brown and North Carolina were even from the jump, as the Bears took a 13-11 lead into the opening media timeout. From there, neither team led by more than three points until a 13-2 Brown run gave the Bears a 43-36 lead at the under four media timeout.

Paxson Wojcik tallied four Brown points in the scoring run and finished the game with 14 points, three assists, and six rebounds.

UNC's Armando Bacot Jr. made a pair of layups and RJ Davis drained a pair of threes to even the game at 47-47 late in the first half. Brown's Aaron Cooley responded with a three of his own in the waning seconds of the half to give the Bears a 50-47 lead at the break.

"We had to win the second half with defense and rebounding, we won the first half with offense, we had to win the second half with defense and rebounding, and unfortunately we weren't able to," Martin added.

Brown and UNC traded baskets to start the second half as the Bears maintained a three-point lead at the under-16 media timeout.

Owusu-Anane, Wojcik, and Perry Cowan added points for the Bears to push its lead to 68-62 at the second media timeout of the second half.

The Tar Heels responded out of the timeout and a 9-4 run gave UNC a 75-74 lead at the under-eight media timeout.

Out of the break, Brown and North Carolina traded points with Owusu-Anane sinking a three and a layup while UNC's Davis making a pair of threes. Davis led all scorers with 26 points on the night on 6-of-9 shooting from deep.

The final media timeout of the night came with 3:11 remaining as UNC clung to an 83-79 lead. Kino Lilly Jr. responded to a pair of Davis free throws out of the break with a three to make it a three-point game. Lilly Jr. finished the night with 12 points (5-8 FG) with a pair of threes.

UNC pushed its lead to 88-82 with 1:31 to play but a Friday three cut the Tar Heel lead back to three. Davis added his sixth three-pointer of the night with 42 seconds to play to push UNC's lead back to six, and the Tar Heels came out with a 94-87 victory.

"They all stood out as far as their confidence, their energy, and their support for one another," Martin concluded with his thoughts on the players.

Brown finished the night shooting 50.7% from the field (37-73) and 36.8% from deep (7-19). The Bears were 6-for-9 from the free throw line.

North Carolina finished the night shooting 51.6% from the field (32-62) and 42.9% from deep (9-21). The Tar Heels were 21-for-28 from the free throw line.

UNC out-rebounded Brown 39-30 and finished the night with seven turnovers compared to Brown's five giveaways. Both teams finished with six blocks. Brown's five turnovers mark the second fewest by a UNC opponent at the Smith Center since it opened in 1986.

Brown returns to Pizzitola Sports Center to host Central Connecticut State (0-1, 0-0 NEC) on Sunday (Nov. 14). Sunday's game is scheduled to tip-off at 4 p.m. and will stream on ESPN+.