As the final seconds ticked away, the North Carolina JV men's basketball team dribbled out the clock with a 100-74 lead over Methodist University.
This was no ordinary UNC victory, however. There weren't 20,000 fans on their feet. Roy Williams wasn't standing on the sideline. The marching band wasn't getting ready to play the fight song.
Instead, there was silence. The few cheers that came from the crowd of no more than 100 people were drowned out by the buzzer that signified the end of the contest and the Tar Heel victory. This was the scene of the Tar Heels' Wednesday night victory in the Smith Center.
Junior guard Brooks Palmer led the Tar Heels to their 26-point victory in a breakout performance. Palmer contributed 22 points for the game, following a dominant first half in which he scored 15 points.
“I would say that usually I take the biggest share of shots on the team, but I haven’t been shooting very well this season,” Palmer said. “There were a lot of open looks, so I was able to knock down some shots. But this was my first time this season that I’ve really been able to hit many shots.”
Palmer may have carried the load offensively, but he was not without help. Sophomore guard Robbie O’Han stepped up, scoring 14 points along with running the point in the absence of Kane Ma, who was recently promoted to the varsity squad. In addition to O’Han, first-year guard Pearce Landry shot lights out from three, adding 17 points to the team’s total.
“This has been our first real challenge this season,” Palmer said. “So we were just coming out trying to play hard, play to win and play some good defense.”
After Thursday's win, the Tar Heels are now 8-0 on the season with only seven games remaining.