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The Daily Tar Heel

Miami claims ACC Title

Shane Larkin wins MVP

	Durand Scott and Reggie Johnson hoist the ACC Championship trophy.

Durand Scott and Reggie Johnson hoist the ACC Championship trophy.

GREENSBORO — Sunday afternoon at the Greensboro Coliseum, the regular season ACC Champions completed the sweep and took the conference tournament crown as well.

The Miami Hurricanes (27-6) out paced the North Carolina men’s basketball team (24-10) in the title game and won 87-77 to claim the program’s first ACC Title.

Shane Larkin was named MVP of the tournament for his week-long efforts that culminated in a fantastic showing Sunday. Larkin finished the championship game with a career-high 28 points, seven assists and five rebounds.

Trey McKinney Jones added 20 points for the Hurricanes and he made six of nine attempts from long-range.

Durand Scott added only six points but battled through a back injury he sustained in the first minute of the ball game.

“Shane and Durand have huge hearts,” Miami coach Jim Larranaga said after the game. “They’ve led this team from the start. Their teammates have followed their lead and given us the toughness that it takes to win a tournament like this against the best teams in the conference.”

The Tar Heels held a lead with about eight minutes left in the game but Miami rattled off a 22-8 to seal the win.

North Carolina sophomore P.J. Hairston did his best to match the offensive output of Larkin and McKinney Jones as he gave the Tar Heels 28 points of his own. Hairston was nine-for-17 from the floor and knocked down six 3-pointers.

Hairston and Reggie Bullock were both named to the All-Tournament first team.

Freshman point guard Marcus Paige, who was selected to the All-Tournament second-team, had another solid game in Greensboro — posting 18 points and five assists.

But Larkin was too much for him, or anyone else in the UNC back court, to handle and when he wasn’t creating his own shot attempts with impressive crossovers he was creating shots for his teammates with strong penetration and court vision.

No team has ever won both the ACC regular season and tournament championships not been given a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament but the Hurricanes were awarded a No. 2 seed by the selection committee.

“There’s an awful lot of excitement in Coral Gables, in Miami,” Larranaga said. “Between us and the Miami Heat, we’re doing a lot of winning.

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