On Sunday, the North Carolina Tar Heels faced the Florida State Seminoles with hopes of getting another conference victory. The Seminoles came into the game on a three game losing streak and they were looking to end that trend. Heres what happened when these two ACC rivals squared off.

In the first half the Tar Heels got off to a solid start scoring the ball at will. Brice Johnson and Kennedy Meeks couldn't be stopped as they combined to score eight of UNC's first ten points and helped Carolina take early control of the contest. A balanced scoring attack from UNC helped them pull ahead 30-19 with less than five minutes remaining in the first half. The Tar Heels looked like they were on track to blowout the Seminoles. However, the Seminoles wouldn't give up and began to get themselves together.

After the Noles allowed UNC to score 30 points in their first 23 possessions, the Seminoles' defense began to wake up. The 'Noles didn't let UNC move the ball as easily and made the Tar Heels settle for jump shots. The Seminoles then went on a 12-5 run which was led by Jarquez Smith to cut the UNC lead down to just 35-31 at the break. 

The momentum for Florida State didn't carry over to the second half as they allowed UNC to go on an 8-0 run to start the half. UNC was led by Brice Johnson in the second half as he scored 12 points and pulled down 8 rebounds, despite an injury to his back. It appeared that the Heels were going to stroll to victory but Florida State fought back again. FSU kept fighting back thanks to Book Brandon Xavier Rathan-Meyers who scored 35 of FSU's next 39 points. Every attempt UNC made to pull away on offense was answered by the Seminoles defense.

With 46 seconds remaining the Tar Heels made three straight stops on the defensive end and forced the lead back to double digits. For a third time in this game it appeared that the Tar Heels were going to pull away. However, once again the Seminoles wouldn't go away. Xavier Rathan-Meyers took the noles all the way back with the three point shot. Rathan-Meyers hit three straight three pointers in a row to cut the UNC lead down to just 75-72, but FSU got no closer. The Tar Heels held on and earned a 78-74 victory against the Noles.

Statistics: Xavier Rathan-Meyers scored a school freshman record 35 points for the Seminoles. Devon Bookert also contributed for FSU with 11 points and 7 rebounds. UNC was led by Marcus Paige who had 19 points and Brice Johnson had 18 points.

Next Games:

North Carolina - Syracuse on 1/26/15

Florida State - Wake Forest on 1/28/15