So now it's time for the second half, Duke leads 39-34. The songs suffled onto my iPod were All Along the Watchtower and Higher Ground.

Duke ball to start. Paulus wide open off of a screen and flips it up with 1 hand-good. Wright scores before I could finish that first sentence. Zoubeck is called for another travel. Lawson misses a layup, the ball is tipped out of bounds to Duke. Foul away from the ball on UNC. The pass into the middle is tipped away-to henderson-to Paulus, who makes the 3. Henderson steals the pass on the next possesion, and dunks itwith one hand and now Vitale has lost it. Wright scores again, he has 12. McClure for 3 no good, rebound McRoberts, who hits McClure as he's on his ass, foul on Terry. Pass into the middle to McRoberts who makes the layup. Duke by 10. Hansbrough is doubled, so he kicks it out to Ellington for 3, no good, rebound McRoberts, over the back call on Hansborough. Paulus hits Scheyer cross court no good. UNC drives and Wright misses the bank shot. Pass stolen and layup is made by Lawson, just a bad pass there. Nelson drains another jumper. Foul in the lane...blocking on Scheyer, two shots for Wright. He splits them and is subbed out for Hansbrough. Paulus misses the 3 but McClure gets the offensive board. McClure gets the ball stolen from him and its a fast break again, but Nelson tips the ball out of bounds. Another exciting start to the half, as Vitale thinks it'll be "something special." Duke 50-41.

Dick Groat-what a rough name. And what a rough camera angle this is. Terry misses the jumper, but Ginyard rebounds. Hansbrough draws the blocking foul on McRoberts. Perfect backdoor pass for the...missed dunk by Terry. Nelson is called for a palming violation. I've seen everything today. What happened to the good old days where there were no traveling, carrying, or palming? Hansbrough gets the ball in the post, misses, but draws the foul on McRoberts, his 3rd. Hansbrough has no rebounds and 6 points after the 2 made ft's. Scheyer is double teamed, so he takes about 5 steps and then steps on the line. Hansbrough triple teamed and the ball is stolen by Paulus. Henderson drives and is blocked, but Duke rebounds. Coach K is bitching to the refs, trying to milk more time onto the shot clock. Scheyer is wide open, but misses the three. Scheyer reaches in on Hansbrough as he goes for the steal, leading to a missed layup by Terry and Duke's ball. Frasor gets a steal and his layup is blocked, but it's goaltending, good call. UNC's back within 5, the closest they have been in a while.

We're back, Duke ball. They haven't scored in 4 and a half minutes. McRoberts is fouled as he goes up for a layup by Hansbrough. He surprisingly misses both. Terry airballs a 3, but McRoberts is called for a foul underneath, his 4th. Vitale almost shot his load yelling at McRoberts on that one. Timeout, Duke lead is still 5.

UNC ball underneath the Duke hoop. Hansbrough banks in a jumper. Pressure time for Duke-their lead is only 3 now. Scheyer pulls up and makes the open jumper, clutch shot. Frasor is short on a 3, but they get an offensive board, Hansbrough is doubled, but kicks it out to Miller who makes the 3. Duke lead is only two, and McClure is hurt. Paulus misses the jumper, and they can tie or take here, but they don't do either because of an offensive foul. Paulus misses a runner, UNC fast break, but they slow it down. Hansbrough hits the mid range jumper, and we are tied at 52! Paulus pulls up and hits a jumper, he has 15 and Scheyer has 19. Hansbrough fouled by Scheyer, his 3rd, as he got the ball underneath. McRoberts comes back in with 4 fouls, and he plays great defense twice on Lawson, denying two layups and getting a board. Paulus is fouled by Lawson, his 2nd foul. Paulus' jumper rims out, and Wright ties the game with a layup. Nelson drives baseline and kicks it out to Scheyer who hits the 3. Entry pass, and Lance Thomas grabs the ball away from Wright and calls timeout, good defensive play, but Duke only has 2 timeouts left to UNC's 4. Duke by 3 and they have the ball.

Scheyer gets the feed from Nelson and misses a highly contested 3 pointer, but he is fouled. He'll get 3 shots when we come back from the break. 7:22 left.

That new Air Jordan XX2 commercial is intense as hell, back to the action, Scheyer shooting free throws. They try to jinx him with the consecutive FT's made graphic and they are successful. Fuck you graphics department. He misses 2 of 3 and Terry makes an easy layup. Nelson misses a jumper, and Wright's hook shot rattles in. McClure is hurt again. Tied at 58. Henderson hits a tough baseline jumper, first time I've said his name in a while. Lawson comes right back and hits a jumper of his own. Paulus misses a 3 badly, and Henderson gets called for another goaltending on a blocked shot. UNC is ahead for the first time with 5:15 to go. Henderson misses a jumper again, and its a kicked ball on UNC's end. Wright hits another jumper, UNC by 4 and the momentum shift is visible now. Nelson drives and is fouled, he'll get two shots, but is notoriously bad from the stripe. He splits them. Hansbrough is blocked, great work by Nelson, and Duke even gets to keep the ball. I'm guessing they go for the 3 and the tie. They don't, Henderson gets the ball and hits an off balance leaner. Nelson steals the ball and heads downcourt, he is fouled. Two shots when we come back. Will someone please put Dick Vitale out of his misery? UNC leads 64-63, 3:44 to go.

Nelson misses both, Duke is suffering this half. Hansbrough hits the jumper from the foul line. Scheyer misses again, but Terry walks on the fast break. Foul called on Scheyer on a bad pass by Nelson, good deflection by Miller. Miller splits. Duke trails by 4, their biggest defecit tonight. McRoberts misses again, and it's getting ugly on offense for Duke. They cannot get anything going on offense at the end of games anymore.

Lawson drives, is fouled, and gets the continuation on the made shot. Iffy call there, and he makes it a 7 point game. Duke needs points badly. Paulus misses a layup and he fouls Lawson on the other end. Like I said in the comments earlier, they outplay teams for 35 minutes and let it slip away. A surprising miss on the first shot. Scheyer works the baseline, hits a layup and the foul as he faked out Lawson. He makes the shot. Duke needs a stop or its just about over. Lawson nails the layup. Scheyer misses the layup, the ball is tipped around, and McRoberts makes it, timeout Duke, they trail by 4. They need a steal or some missed free throws to get back into this one. 37.3 left.

Hansbrough is fouled with 30.3 left. Even if he makes both, it's still a two possession game. The foul is on Scheyer, and that's 5. He's played an incredible game, but he'll watch the final 30 from the bench. Hansbrough makes both. Carolina calls timeout. Duke needs two threes and no points from UNC. I've seen crazier things happen.

Jesus Christ Dick, shut up. No one wants to watch that womens game.

Nelson makes a layup, that didn't help at all. Paulus fouls Ginyard downcourt.
The first one rolls around and goes in, the second one doesn't. Paulus is blocked by Hansbrough and it's just about over. He makes them both and its a 3 score game.

UNC leads by 7, as Duke has lost 3 straight games where they've outplayed their opponent, and the schedule doesn't get any easier. They should still get to 25 wins, but they are not a great team this year. UNC has a much easier schedule, including two revenge games against VT and NCST.

Ok so Duke gets a 3...which counts for 6 points according to ESPN. It is now 77-76 (73) good work, graphics department. 6.7 left. It will take more than a miracle and ESPN's graphics for Duke to win this game. Paulus commits the foul and he's gone.

Lawson makes both, Henderson misses the 3, and that's how the game ends; not with a bang, but with a whimper.

Duke has lost 3 in a row and will need so turn things around quick, the ACC tournament is only 3 weeks away.

BIG win for UNC, they control their own destiny in the ACC, and I don't see another game before senior day vs Duke that they should lose.

Thank you all for reading and staying with me and my rabid Duke bias (someone has to do it). If you are interested in my blog, give me an email at samtydings@aol.com, but if you're not, stick around as AA has something good working over here.

Peace-
Sam T