Football
Associated Press 19y

Inside power carries Tar Heels to championship game

ST. LOUIS -- North Carolina needed some time to establish
control of the paint. Once the Tar Heels got it, Michigan State had
no chance.

Sean May had 18 of his 22 points in the second half and Jawad
Williams broke out of a long scoring slump to finish with 20,
helping North Carolina to a sizable inside advantage in an 87-71
victory over the Spartans on Saturday night.

The Tar Heels, in the championship game for the first time since
winning the title in 1993, will play Illinois on Monday night. The
Illini beat Louisville 72-57.

"The thing that's impressed me the most about our team down the
stretch is our toughness, and the toughness was a huge thing for us
today," North Carolina coach Roy Williams said.

Getting that kind of effort from May was nothing new. During the
run to the Final Four, he averaged 21.5 points and 11.8 rebounds,
and he had double-doubles in 14 of the previous 18 games. But in
the first half, with two and sometimes three defenders surrounding
him, he had only two points and three rebounds, and the Tar Heels
trailed by five points.

"I've been told the least important score is the halftime
score, so I wasn't worried that we were down," May said. "I
didn't play well in the first half, but Coach told me, 'We're not
going to stop coming to you.' They had faith in me."

He quickly established himself after the break, following up a
miss by Williams with less than a minute gone. May scored in a
variety of ways -- banking in jumpers, making free throws, leaping
high for lob passes and dunks -- and Williams surprisingly added
something to help North Carolina (32-4) outscore Michigan State
46-28 in the paint.

Along the way, the Tar Heels shot 57 percent in the final 20
minutes.

"Our big guys really run well," Rashad McCants said. "Sean
May definitely came out and played the way he's been playing all
year. He had a bunch of key shots and key rebounds."

A few weeks ago in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament,
Williams strained a muscle in his hip, and the injury robbed him of
the strength needed in his legs to get the necessary lift on his
shot. That was painfully obvious once he got in the NCAA
tournament, particularly in a second-round victory over Iowa State.

The 6-foot-9 senior missed all six shots in that one -- including
two 3-pointers -- and was 1-of-5 from the free throw line. His grand
total of one point was his lowest since going scoreless against
Indiana in the third game of his freshman season.

He improved somewhat in the next two games, then broke out in a
big way against Michigan State (26-7). With May and Marvin Williams
struggling, Jawad Williams helped the Tar Heels stay close with 12
points in the first half.

"The only thing I really went through was people trying to make
excuses for me," Jawad Williams said. "I never made an excuse and
I never will. Tonight was a great win for us, and that's all I
really care about."

Early in the second half, in perhaps the defining moments that
proved he is over that hip ailment, he leaped high for an alley-oop
dunk off an assist from point guard Raymond Felton. Later, after
the Spartans came back to tie it, Jawad Williams spun for a
fallaway jumper from about 10 feet over Matt Trannon to put the Tar
Heels ahead for good.

"He's a totally different player than what I've seen the last
four games," May said. "He was that old Jawad Williams, dunking
on people rebounding the ball, making the big plays, doing the
little things. I went over to Jawad and told him, 'The reason we
won this game is because of your heart."

Jawad Williams added one more basket to reach 20 points for the
first time since Feb. 27 at Maryland. Since then, he has only
reached double figures once, and after leading the team in scoring
for much of the season, his average dropped to third behind May and
McCants.

"Jawad showed up for us," McCants said. "He's the best leader
on this team, he knew what it was going to take to win. He played
his heart out for us."

Snapping out of his slump was the last thing on Jawad Williams'
mind. As one of three players left from the horrible 8-20 season
three years ago, he was just pleased that he, Melvin Scott, Jackie
Manuel and the rest of their teammates have the program back on
track.

"It felt great. I'm not worried about my individual
performance, I just wanted my team to get a 'W," he said.

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