By AARON BEARD AP Basketball Writer
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Jae’Lyn Withers stood in a hallway of the Spectrum Center, his left arm resting around the shoulders of North Carolina coach Hubert Davis. He was surrounded by reporters, all wanting to know a simple question.
How did it happen?
It was roughly an hour after the Tar Heels nearly completed a comeback from a 24-point deficit against top-ranked Duke in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. But it slipped painfully away on the most unusual of mistakes: Withers’ lane violation in the final seconds that negated the tying free throw from Ven-Allen Lubin.
The Blue Devils hung on for a 74-71 victory Friday night in the semifinal, a game that was flirting with earning its own place in the rivalry’s lore for the comeback — only to secure it for an entirely different reason.
To his credit, Williams — a graduate forward who had helped lead the Tar Heels’ final-month surge to revive their NCAA Tournament hopes — didn’t hide from reporters. He instead faced the questions about that painful moment. He spoke in a low voice, his coach standing at his side in a public show of support.
“I guess you could just say I kind of mistimed the shot,” Withers said. “I was trying to make sure I crashed hard to secure a rebound in case he did miss.”
Before that moment, it seemed North Carolina (22-13) was on the verge of an improbable comeback likely to eliminate lingering doubts about their chances of earning a bid to March Madness. Duke was playing without freshman star Cooper Flagg and versatile defender Maliq Brown due to injuries, but closed the first half on a 15-0 run and took its largest lead at 52-28 with 17:01 left.
But the Tar Heels took over, getting loose in transition to finally create some space and rhythm. And the lead steadily dwindled, eventually to single digits before finally UNC got the ball back down just 72-71 in the final minute. And after a timeout, Lubin drew the fifth foul on Duke’s Khaman Maluach on a move in the paint with 4.1 seconds left.
Lubin missed the first free throw. Still, he had another shot coming, with UNC’s momentum giving the Tar Heels plenty of optimism on what they could do if Lubin tied it and potentially forced overtime.
But as Lubin bent his knees to take the second, Withers stepped his right foot into the paint as he stood between Duke’s Isaiah Evans and Patrick Ngongba. He quickly stepped back, but it was too late.
Ngongba immediately pointed toward Withers’ feet. The whistle blew. Evans and Ngongba immediately started clapping their hands and celebrating right in front of Withers, while UNC teammate RJ Davis stood beyond the 3-point arc with his hands on his head in disbelief.
Worse, Lubin’s shot dropped through the net for what would’ve been a 72-all tie.
“I’ve never seen anything like that before, especially up one,” Duke freshman Kon Knueppel said.
That was probably true of a packed instate crowd full of the competing shades of rivalry blue, too.
“We all made mistakes in this game,” RJ Davis said. “I am behind J-Wit. He has our full support and we would not be in this position without J-Wit. I want him to hold his head high. We all make mistakes in this game. It’s not just on him.”
The Tar Heels missed a desperation 3-pointer on one final possession, and Withers immediately covered his face with his jersey at the bench in anguish. He regrouped enough to go through the postgame handshake line with a towel on his head.
“The emotions (that) followed was just just the sense, I’d say mostly disbelief initially,” Withers said. “But following that, of course upset with the end result.”
His voice trailed off. That’s when his coach interjected.
“Guys,” Hubert Davis told reporters, “we’re not here without J-Wit.”