No. 9 Miami defeated North Carolina 87-77 on Sunday to win their first Atlantic Coast Conference tournament championship in school history. The accomplishment comes during the same season in which the Hurricanes won their first regular-season title.
Shane Larkin led the way for Miami, scoring a career-high 28 points, eight of which came within the final 2 1/2 minutes. Trey McKinney Jones added a career-high 20 points of his own, including the go-ahead 3-pointer from the left corner with 6:27 remaining, which started Miami's final push to secure the tourney title.
Miami was able to slow UNC standout P.J. Hairston down the stretch. Hairston kept the Tar Heels in contention with 28 points off of six 3-pointers. Despite the impressive performance, the Hurricanes were able to outshoot the Tar Heels .508 to .450 and capitalized on North Carolina's foul trouble.
Larkin was named the tournament MVP after finishing as the runner-up for ACC player of the year to Virginia Tech's Erick Green. He has played a major role leading the Hurricanes all season during Miami's surprising dominance this season.
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