North Carolina 85, N.C. State 84 (OT)

RALEIGH, N.C. — Guard Marcus Paige scored on a runner down the left side of the lane with 0.9 seconds left to give No. 19 North Carolina an 85-84 overtime victory against North Carolina State on Wednesday night at PNC Arena.

Paige, a sophomore, finished with 35 points, including 10 in overtime. He had just four points at halftime.

Forward T.J. Warren scored the first six points of overtime as part of his 36-point performance for N.C. State (17-11, 7-8 Atlantic Coast Conference), which desperately needed a resume-boosting victory.

N.C. State scored on all seven overtime possessions. With 7.7 seconds left, Warren missed a free throw before making the second attempt for a one-point lead.

North Carolina (21-7, 11-4) was out of timeouts and Paige drove deep into N.C. State’s defense for the winning shot.

North Carolina forward James Michael McAdoo, who was 1 of 10 from the field at the time, tied the game from the low post with 30 seconds to play in overtime.

Forward J.P. Tokoto scored 16 points for the Tar Heels, who won their 10th game in a row and pulled within a half-game of Duke for third place in the ACC standings.

Guard Ralston Turner had 16 points and reserve forward BeeJay Anya added 10 points for N.C. State.

North Carolina was in position to win in regulation when Paige’s two free throws with 3.6 seconds left gave the Tar Heels a 61-59 edge. The Wolfpack was out of timeouts.

After the ball was batted out of bounds by North Carolina on the Wolfpack’s first inbound attempt, North Carolina guard Leslie McDonald fouled Warren on the next throw-in with 1.5 seconds left. Warren sank both foul shots.

North Carolina, which trailed by 11 points in the first half, closed within one a couple of times during the first eight minutes of the second half. Paige’s third 3-pointer in about a three-minute span made it 52-51 with less than eight minutes to play.

The Tar Heels took the lead on the next possession on Tokoto’s basket. That was the first time North Carolina was on top in about 25 minutes of game time.

After guard Desmond Lee hit from long range for the Wolfpack, Paige’s fourth 3 of the half gave the Tar Heels the lead back at 56-55.

Warren, the ACC scoring leader, picked up his fourth foul with 8:01 to play. He had 10 first-half points despite hitting only 3-of-10 shots from the field.

N.C. State held a 34-26 halftime lead despite missed opportunities to keep a larger lead at the break.

N.C. State, which played its previous three games on the road, built a 28-17 lead before the Tar Heels notched the next five points. N.C State forward T.J. Warren connected on a 3-point shot to shift momentum again.

The Wolfpack got a big boost from freshman forward BeeJay Anya, who scored eight points in the first half.

North Carolina began the game shooting 1-for-9 from the field, and the Tar Heels missed all three of their first-half 3-point attempts. They also made only 6 of 12 free throws in the half.

Ten turnovers, including two shot-clock violations, before the break also were costly to North Carolina.

NOTES: North Carolina re-entered the national rankings this week after a seven-week absence. … North Carolina won the first meeting of the season with N.C. State 84-70 on Feb. 1 in Chapel Hill. … North Carolina F Kennedy Meeks missed practice time this week with a sprained right ankle and hyperextended right knee, but he was in the starting lineup. … Beginning with this game, North Carolina plays three of four games on the road. The Tar Heels go to Virginia Tech on Saturday. … This was only the second home game of the month for N.C. State, but it began a season-ending stretch of three home games in a four-game span. Next is Saturday’s home matchup with Miami.