by Sammy Batten, The Fayetteville Observer, N.C. , The Fayette Observer

"I didn't think I read it right at first,'' Green said. "Then I saw it again and said, 'Oh man.' It just shows you what can happen in college basketball if you show up not ready to play.''

It was Green and his teammates who didn't show up Sunday and the result was UNC's first loss of the season, 85-78, against a Boston College team picked to finish 11th in the Atlantic Coast Conference . The setback knocked the Tar Heels out of the No. 1 spot in the national rankings and left them anxious for redemption.

North Carolina, which fell to No. 3 in the polls after Sunday's loss, seemed back to its usual dominant self Wednesday. Closing out the nonconference portion of their schedule, the Tar Heels clobbered College of Charleston, 108-70, for their third-largest margin of victory this season.

UNC had previously routed Chaminade by 45 points and UNC Asheville by 68.

"Needless to say, we feel a heck of lot better tonight than we did Saturday,'' UNC coach Roy Williams said. "We made a lot more shots and everything just felt better. Basically, this was an opportunity for us to get the bad taste out of our mouths that we had Sunday.''

The Tar Heels (14-1) scored 15 consecutive points between the end of the first half and the 17:45 mark of the second to take command. The last 11 of those came at the start of the second half as UNC expanded a 12-point halftime advantage to 23.

The margin eventually peaked at 30 with 10:47 to play before Williams began to empty his bench.

But while the game ended in a rout, the College of Charleston gave the Tar Heels all they wanted for most of the first half.

The Cougars (10-3), who are directed by former Georgia Tech coach Bobby Cremins, connected on eight 3s in the opening 16 minutes, four of them by junior guard Tony White Jr. The sharpshooting allowed Charleston to remain within six points of UNC until about the eight-minute mark when a driving layup by Will Graves, a 3-pointer by Ty Lawson and a dunk by Tyler Hansbrough pushed the margin to 38-28.

It was during that stretch the scores started flashing during a break on the video screen. Even UNC's Williams noticed the Boston College result.

"College basketball is crazy,'' Williams said. "Boston College came in here Sunday and imposed their will on us, then tonight they lose to Harvard by 12. This is a wacky business.''

Hansbrough paced the Tar Heels with a 24-point, seven-rebound effort, while Lawson and Deon Thompson contributed 15 points apiece.

Lawson, who also had eight assists, was happy to be back in the win column. But the junior point guard said the bad taste over the Boston College loss wouldn't completely be gone until UNC beat another ACC team.

He hopes that occurs Sunday when the No. 3 Tar Heels play at No. 4 Wake Forest.

"It was good to win tonight, but until we beat another quality team like Wake Forest, I'm still not going to feel right,'' Lawson said. "We need another good win to put that one (Boston College) behind us.''

Staff writer Sammy Batten can be reached at battens@fayobserver.com or 486-3534.

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