University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Cleveland St
No. 4 North Carolina Routs Cleveland State, 107-64
December 30, 2004 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 30, 2004
By KEITH PARSONS
AP Sports Writer
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) - Raymond Felton ran his streak of consecutive 3-pointers to 12 and finished with 13 points and eight assists, helping No. 4 North Carolina beat Cleveland State 107-64 on Thursday night.
Sean May had 16 points to lead six players in double figures for the Tar Heels (11-1), who continued a six-game homestand with another lopsided victory. They've got one more tuneup - Sunday against William & Mary - before hosting No. 24 Maryland on Jan. 8.
Omari Westley had 18 points for the Vikings (3-5), who lost their fifth in a row after starting the season with a three-game winning streak.
In his first two seasons, Felton made only 34 percent of his 3s, but obviously worked on that weakness in the offseason. The 6-foot-1 point guard hasn't missed in 2{ weeks since he finished 0-for-3 against Loyola of Chicago, four games ago. Felton was 3-for-3 in this one, and he's three short of the NCAA record of 15 set by Northwestern's Todd Leslie in 1990.
Of course, Felton and his teammates played pretty good defense, too. The Tar Heels forced 22 of their season-high 31 turnovers in the first half alone, including 10 in one suffocating stretch late in the first half.
After the Vikings (3-5) closed to 37-29 on two free throws from Westley, they went more than three minutes without scoring. Jawad Williams started a 14-3 run with a tip-in, then Marvin Williams and Rashad McCants added layups.
By the time May finished it off with four consecutive points, North Carolina led 51-32.
The second half was more of the same. Cleveland State had a turnover on its first possession and Westley missed three of four free throws, while the Tar Heels continued to make shots. Felton swished in his final 3 and McCants later added one of his own to make it 71-43.
The lead was 30 when May put the exclamation point on this victory, taking a lob pass from Felton and slamming it in one-handed midway through the second half. He and the rest of the starters came out soon after in favor of the reserves.
The bench got some work at the end of the first half, too, when the starters drew the ire of coach Roy Williams. Little-used Reyshawn Terry, Charlie Everett, Wes Miller, C.J. Hooker and Byron Sanders finished out the half and actually increased the lead by one point.
