Carolina Classic

CHAPEL HILL - The college basketball game that took place last night in the Dean Smith Center did not feature an unranked squad and the No. 3 team in the country.

It did not pit a school on a 16-game win streak against one that recently suffered through four straight losses.

It was Duke-Carolina, and for all the media coverage, all the hyperbole, all the trash talking, nothing could come close to the game itself.

"With all the hype that goes into these games," said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, "the hype didn't live up to the performances by those youngsters in this ballgame."

They performed for 45 minutes, and when two weary rivals walked off the court, the Blue Devils owned a 90-86 victory and their first four-game win streak against the Tar Heels since 1964.

Duke's Chris Carrawell is now a veteran of nine showdowns with UNC. And after the Tar Heels rallied from a 19-point deficit, after Joseph Forte buried a three-pointer to send the game to overtime, after the Blue Devils put together another fearless extra period, the senior made his pitch for where he thinks last night's game stands among the 205 Duke and UNC have played.

"You've got to rank this as one of the top three Duke-Carolina games ever," he said. "I wasn't here in the '60s or whatever, but tonight was a classic.... This was the best Duke-Carolina game I've been in, even better than my sophomore year.

"Guys were making plays out there that were unbelievable. For us to win this game is huge."

Once Haywood departed, Duke center Carlos Boozer, who shot 2-of-11 from the floor in regulation, got to demonstrate his dunking ability. Three times in the extra period, a teammate found the freshman alone in the paint against UNC's zone for a two-handed slam. The last dunk, coming after Carrawell let the shot clock run down then drove and dished to the open big man, gave Duke a six-point lead with 1:51 to go.

"He takes up a lot of space in there," Boozer said of Haywood. "So it was a good opportunity to go inside, because he's also a good shot blocker.... I was just happy to get the opportunity. All I had to do was catch and finish, and I thought I did a good job of that."

But it still wasn't over. The Tar Heels had 17 offensive rebounds after halftime and 6-foot-2 Ed Cota got two straight on their next possession, converting the second to make the score 84-80.

Carrawell responded by adding to his ever-growing resume of clutch shots, a baseline drive for a three-point play and a seven-point lead. But it still wasn't over.

Forte hit another trey and Williams and Boozer combined to miss 3-of-4 free throws. Then Orlando Melendez, who sat the first 44 minutes of play until Jason Capel fouled out, got yet another offensive board after bricking the second of two foul shots. Forte-who else?-sank a layup to cut the deficit to 88-86 with 16.7 seconds remaining.

Once again, a Duke freshman stepped to the foul line with a chance to clinch the game. This time, he came through, as Mike Dunleavy nailed both to earn some Class of 2003 bragging rights.

"I was thinking to myself when [Williams and Boozer] missed their shots, 'If I get the opportunity I don't want to blow it,'" he said. "So when I was greeting them after the game, I let them know that I was the only freshman to do it."

Forte finally missed a three, and the Blue Devils stretched their record ACC regular-season winning streak to 30.

"The guys have done well in overtime," Krzyzewski said, "though I don't want them to take me there anymore."

In the first half, the coach had reason to believe he wouldn't have to weather another overtime contest. Duke led 41-24 at the break after the Tar Heels shot 38 percent from the floor and committed 14 turnovers. Cota, their All-ACC point guard, had six, as many as all the Blue Devils combined.

Haywood, who came into the game averaging 13.3 points, only attempted one field goal and finished the half with more fouls (3) than points (2).

Battier, in contrast, was all over the place, leading Duke with 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting. His jumper with less than two minutes to go kicked off a 6-0 Duke run to end the half.

"I really wanted to float to the baseline after I looked at the tapes," said Battier, who wouldn't miss a field goal the rest of the way, finishing with a game-high 25 points. "The shooting hasn't been kind to me lately, but it was tonight."

The Blue Devils led 50-31 just over five minutes into the second half, before UNC started to chip away at the lead. Haywood had five offensive rebounds after intermission, as he and fellow big man Kris Lang pounded the boards. Lang scored eight of his 15 points during the comeback, and his follow of a Cota miss with 1:09 to go brought the Tar Heels within two.

On the other end of the court, Carrawell collided with Forte, sending the freshman tumbling to the floor. The whistle didn't blow, and Carrawell drilled the jumper to give Duke a 72-68 lead. But Capel countered with a layup 19 seconds later to set up the dramatic final seconds.

"I think everyone knew that despite the records and the streaks, whenever Duke and Carolina play it's a special game," Battier said. "Tonight, I hear the producers at Classic Sports were seeing dollar signs when he hit that shot to send it to overtime."