Air Force Academy
North Carolina (NCAA First Round)
Falcons Fall In First Round To North Carolina
3/18/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
| NCAA First Round - March 18, 2004 |
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By JOHN MARSHALL
AP Sports Writer
DENVER (AP) - Roy Williams won his NCAA tournament debut with North Carolina against the school that gave former Tar Heels mentor Dean Smith his first coaching job.
Sean May had 14 points and North Carolina pulled away in the second half to beat scrappy Air Force 63-52 in the first round Thursday night.
Smith was an assistant at Air Force from 1955-57 before becoming the winningest coach in NCAA history in his 36 years at North Carolina. But not even the dean of coaching could have predicted how much the Tar Heels would struggle against the undersized Falcons.
North Carolina (19-10), the sixth seed in the Atlanta Regional, had trouble with Air Force's deliberate offense and swarming defense from the start, and didn't get any breathing room until going on an 11-0 run midway through the second half.
The Tar Heels shot just 32 percent in the first half, but went 12-for-22 in the second to move on to Saturday's second round against Texas. The Longhorns have to be relieved about facing North Carolina after struggling early against Princeton's pace-dragging style in the first game.
Air Force (22-7) shot 50 percent in the first half, but was just 8-for-21 in the second to lose in its first NCAA tournament appearance in 42 years.
The Falcons at least made a game of it against the bigger and faster Tar Heels.
Air Force's Joe Scott played and coached under Princeton coach Pete Carril, so it was no surprise the game looked very much like the Princeton-Texas contest that proceeded it.
Using their grind-it-out offense and scrambling defense, the Falcons kept it to the slow pace they wanted and held North Carolina under 25 points in the first half.
Air Force had trouble with the powerful May inside - eight points on 4-of-9 shooting - but held the Tar Heels to 32 percent shooting in the first half.
The Falcons didn't have a field goal until A.J. Kuhle hit a layup five minutes in, but that seemed to get them going.
Nick Welch followed with a 3-pointer, Antoine Hood added two more and Air Force shot 9-for-18 to lead 28-23 at halftime.
But just like Princeton, Air Force couldn't match the more athletic team down the stretch.
The Falcons went up 44-38 with just under 13 minutes left on Joel Gerlach's four-point play, but North Carolina answered with an 11-0 run, capped by Raymond Felton's long 3-pointer at the shot-clock buzzer.
North Carolina slowly pulled away from there, pushing the lead to as many as 12 points.
The first meeting ever between the two schools featured two vastly different programs.
North Carolina has one of the most storied programs in the country, with three national titles, 16 Final Four appearances and 82 NCAA tournament wins.
Air Force is coming off its first winning season since 1978 and was in the NCAA tournament for the first time in 42 years - third ever.
The Tar Heels have a big front line and like to use their athleticism to push the pace every chance they get.
The Falcons are small - center Welch is a lanky 6-foot-8 - and try to dictate a slow pace with pressure defense and a patient offense that includes plenty of 3-pointers and backdoor cuts.
