THOMASVILLE TIMES Coming This Week • High School Basketball • NJCAA College Hoops Sports TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7,2010 tvillesports@yahoo.com NCAA BASKETBALL Calendar TODAY Basketball W. Davidson @ Ledford 6 p.m. Swimming E. Davidson @ CCC Meet 3:30 p.m. WEDNESDAY Basketball HP Andrews ©Thomasville 6 p.m. Basketbau. Randleman @ E. Davidson 6 p.m. Basketball Ledford @ C. Davidson 6 p.m. THURSDAY Basketball Mt. Zion Prep @DCCC 7 p.m. Swimming E. Davidson @ CCC Meet 3:30 p.m. Wrestling Ledford ©Thomasville 7:30 p.m. Wrestling E. Davidson @ SW Randolph 7:45 p.m. FRIDAY Basketball Trinity @ E. Davidson 6 p.m. Basketball N. Davidson @ Ledford 6 p.m. Got Sports? Get it in the Times TODAY! 888-3631 Zeller helps lead Tar Heels by Kentucky BY BRIANA GORMAN Durham Herald Sun CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina’s Tyler Zeller entered Saturday’s postgame inter views with two cuts on his face, though the 7-footer hardly seemed to notice. The wounds were the result of a career- day for Zeller who finished with 27 points, 11 rehoimds and five blocks to help the Tar Heels hang on for a victory over the No. 10 Wildcats 75-73 at the Smith Center. The Heels did not make a field goal in the final 6:46 but made 14 of 17 free throws — in cluding 10 straight by Zeller — to puU out the win. UNC had entered the game shooting 61 percent from the free-throw line. “Tonight was my night to be able to step up,” Zeller said. “Every big game, you’ve got to have somebody that steps up. I’m not saying it’s going to be me every time, but to night was my night.” After losing three of seven games in No vember, including a loss at No. 20 lUinois on Tuesday, UNC’s Larry Drew II said he looked at the Kentucky game as a must-win situation. And in the second half the guard played like he did not want to lose. Drew finished with seven points and four assists, but his defense helped hold Ken tucky (5-2) to 30 percent shooting in the sec ond half. He was on the floor directing the Tar Heels in the final tense minutes — UNC turned the baU over just three times in the second half — and hit two free throws with 20.9 to play to push UNC’s lead to 72-69. “It was an ugly win, but I’ll take it,” UNC coach Roy WUllams said. “I loved our tough ness going to the free throw line and making the free throws.” Sophomore John Henson also added a double-double (13 points, 12 rebounds) for UNC (5-3) but was not on the court in the fi nal minutes because of his 35 percent free throw shooting. The Tar Heels trailed by as many as six in See HELPS, Page 8 TIMES PHOTO/DAVID YEMM John Henson had one of his best performanc es in a UNC jersey against the Wildcats. TIMES PHOTO/DAVID YEMM Still Perfect Chad Taylor and the Storm improved to 12-0 beating Oxford 91 -58 on Saturday. Justin Glover had 26 points, Maurice Nash 18, James Robbins 14 and Kimani Hunt had 10. Duke, Carolina headline intriguing early hoops season BY DANIEL KENNEDY Times Correspondent March is stiU more than three months away, but the madness has al ready begun for college hoops fans. NCAA basketball typically produces two months of competition one could sleep through without missing much meaning ful action before Christmas, as the nation’s top 25 teams often navigate easy schedules compiled of creampuff opponents to pad their win-loss record. The 2010-2011 cam paign, however, tipped off in mid-Novem ber with an uncustomary slate of games. In less than 30 days, 11 games between ranked opponents have already been played. That number does not even include Saturday’s premier showdowns that pitted North Carolina against fellow blueblood Kentucky and a rematch of the national championship game between Duke and Butler. The Tar Heels and Bulldogs were both unranked at the time of the contests. The top-ranked Blue Devils account for two of the 11 ranked match-ups, as they have beaten preseason Final Four favor ites Michigan State and Kansas State in the opening month. Through eight games, Duke has proven itself an early title frontrunner thanks to the play of dy namic freshman Kyrie Irving, who netted 31 points in the win over the Spartans. On a team led by seniors Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith, the rookie has as sumed the role of starting point guard as a platform to showcase his NBA talents. The Blue Devils also feature brothers Mason and Miles Plumlee as stalwarts in the post to replace the re bounds lost when former fixtures Lance Thomas and Brian Zoubek graduated. One of the more low-profile additions Duke welcomed to the fold this year was See SEASON, Page 8 Big seconii half propels Blue Devils to win over Butler BY STEVE WISEMAN Durham Herald Sun EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Here stood top- ranked Duke on Satur day, squaring off again with scrappy Butler and unable to puU away. Early December is far from early April, yet the teams that battled for the 2010 NCAA men’s basket ball championship ap peared headed for a clas sic finish again. With about 12 min utes to go, emotionally drained Duke found a lit tle extra energy to make this win over Butler more comfortable. A 12-pomt Blue Devils run opened up a lead, and Kyrie Irving’s consecu tive 3-pointers later put away an 82-70 Duke win at the Izod Center. “In the last 12 minutes, I thought we were very energetic,” said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who earned career win No. 876 to catch Adolph Rupp for No. 3 on the all-time wins list. “Our defense picked up and it was a little bit more at the tempo we needed to play.” Up to that point, the Devils seemed lethar gic. Wednesday night’s physically challenging 84-79 home win over No. 6 Michigan State appeared to drain them. The toll of playing, and winning, games in Kansas City and Portland, Ore., over the last two weeks was impacting them. So the game plodded along the way Butler likes to play With Kyle Singler in foul trouble and Duke’s shots not fall ing, the score was tied 33-aIl at halftime and the Bulldogs led 44-42 when Chase StigaU scored on a baseline drive and re verse layup with 14:59 to See DEVILS, Page 8