Top 25 roundup: North Carolina holds off North Carolina State

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina failed to pull off a second straight victory over a ranked team as guard Marcus Paige scored 23 points to help 15th-ranked North Carolina beat the Wolfpack 81-79 victory Wednesday night at PNC Arena.

North Carolina State (12-5, 3-2 ACC) had knocked off then-No. 2 Duke on the same court on Sunday, and the Wolfpack used a late rally to give themselves a chance against North Carolina (13-4, 3-1 ACC).

Paige’s 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down pushed North Carolina’s lead to 71-60 with 4:22 left.

N.C. State guard Trevor Lacey made two foul shots with 1.7 seconds left despite trying to miss the second one to make it a one-point game. Paige answered with two more free throws with one second left for a three-point margin.

N.C. State’s Abdul-Malik Abu was fouled on a long inbounds pass with 0.2 of a second left. Abu made the first free throw to reduce the deficit to two and intentionally missed the second. Wolfpack freshman Cody Martin’s tip attempt in traffic didn’t drop as the horn sounded.

North Carolina beat the Wolfpack for the 23rd time in their last 25 meetings.

Notre Dame 62, Georgia Tech 59

ATLANTA — No. 12 Notre Dame survived its second close call against Georgia Tech in the last 11 days.

The Fighting Irish (16-2, 4-1 ACC) needed double overtime to beat Georgia Tech in the conference opener on Jan. 4 and never found a way to pull away from the pesky Yellow Jackets in the rematch.

Notre Dame secured the victory with 19.6 seconds left when guard Jerian Grant hit a short jumper to give the Irish a 59-56 lead. Grant led the Fighting Irish with 12 points and five assists. Georgia Tech (9-7, 0-4) was led by center Demarco Cox with 17 points and seven rebounds.

Notre Dame played without forward Zach Auguste, who will be out for an undetermined period to deal with an academic matter.

Wichita State 67, Southern Illinois 55

WICHITA, Kan. — Wichita State won its 23rd straight regular-season Missouri Valley Conference game to set a modern-era record.

The 13th-ranked Shockers defeated Southern Illinois to take the record from the Salukis, who won 22 in a row from 2003-04. Former MVC members Cincinnati (1957-59) and Oklahoma State (1947-49) also won 22 in a row.

Senior forward Darius Carter scored a career-high 25 points for Wichita State (15-2, 5-0 MVC), which kept pace with Indiana State atop the conference standings. The Salukis (7-11, 0-5) lost their seventh straight game.

Maryland 73, Rutgers 65

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Forward Dez Wells had 17 points to lead four players in double figures as No. 14 Maryland won a Big Ten matchup against Rutgers, which was coming off an upset of Wisconsin.

Forward Jake Layman added 12 points and 11 rebounds, guard/forward Jared Nickens had 11 points and freshman point guard Melo Trimble scored 11 for the Terps (16-2, 4-1 Big Ten).

Rutgers (10-8, 2-3), which lost for the third time in five games, was paced by guard Myles Mack’s 19 points.