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North Carolina
Charleston
College of Charleston Shocks the Tar Heels
June 21, 1999 | Men's Basketball
December 6, 1998
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - Danny Johnson hit a follow shot with one-tenth of a second left and the College of Charleston surprised No. 3 North Carolina 66-64 Saturday night.
Johnson's basket capped the Cougars' comeback from eight points down with 12 minutes left in the final game of the Food Lion MVP Classic, and it gave him 11 points in what arguably was the biggest victory in the history of the program.
Charleston (4-2) had never played a team ranked this high and had lost seven of its previous 10 games against AP Top 25 opponents. The last time the Cougars had defeated a ranked team was an 84-67 victory over eighth-ranked Georgia Tech on Jan. 16, 1994.
The victory overshadowed a sterling performance by North Carolina freshman Jason Capel, who had 16 points, six rebounds, six assists and two steals. But his showing wasn't enough to end the Tar Heels' bid for their second consecutive 9-0 start.
By battling the Tar Heels to five ties and five lead changes in the first 16 minutes, Charleston reinforced its standing as a program that produced five straight TAAC titles and has made NCAA tournament appearances in three of the last five years.
It turned out to be just a sign of things to come. By the time it was over, the Cougars had limited North Carolina to 41 percent shooting and were outrebounded by only three by a substantially bigger team.
The Cougars' rally appeared to stall when Sedric Webber missed a jumper from the right wing as the clock was winding down. But the ball bounced long and left and into the hands of Johnson, who quickly lofted it back toward the basket. The ball hit the rim, rolled around and dropped through.
North Carolina called timeout to set up a final play, but the Tar Heels were unable to get off a shot before time expired, setting off a raucous celebration by the Cougars and several thousand of their fans who made the four-hour ride to Charlotte.
Brendan Haywood, North Carolina's 7-foot sophomore, was outplayed by a shorter opponent for the second consecutive game and fouled out with four minutes left, clearing the way for Charleston to make a final push.
Carl Thomas led the Cougars with 20 points and Webber had 13. Jody Lumpkin, the Cougars' 6-foot-8 center, wound up with nine points, nine rebounds and three assists.
North Carolina also got 15 points from Ademola Okulaja, 13 from Kris Lang and 12 from Haywood.
