Virginia Tech played its second straight game against a top-10 opponent from the ACC. Its second straight chance to impress the NCAA Tournament committee before a national television audience.
When the score was settled on Wednesday night in Cassell Coliseum, it was 86-78 in favor of No. 2 North Carolina. For the second straight time, the Hokies (17-12, 7-8 ACC) were on the wrong end of the outcome in a narrow defeat.
A game that was fairly even statically was deadlocked on the scoreboard with 9:25 to go in regulation, when A.D. Vassallo connected on a 3-pointer.
This was part of a19-point second half outburst by the senior from Puerto Rico, who similarly went for 21 in the latter 20 minutes against Duke on Saturday afternoon.
The Tar Heels (26-3, 12-3), though, answered to go up by five.
Matters for the Hokies started to turn sour, as Carolina managed to hold their opponents at bay, upping the advantage to 11 with three minutes to go.
Carolina opened up with the early lead. By the time Hansbrough scored and drew a foul prior to the first television timeout, the Tar Heels had doubled up the Hokies by a count of 12-6. It would get as high as nine before the Hokies would narrow the gap with a 12-4 run.
Despite only making five of their first 18 shots, Carolina - a club that scores their buckets at a 48.6 percent clip - managed to keep Tech behind with only four first half turnovers.
The Hank Thorns-to-Jeff Allen connection worked twice in the final minute-and-a-half prior to intermission. The sophomore guard from Las Vegas, back in the starting lineup following an illness, was on the giving end of two buckets by the Hokies' No 0.
However, a Hansbrough 3-pointer gave the Heels a 42-36 advantage - and the lions share of the momentum - into the locker room.
Vassallo's runner in the lane with 13:57 remaining in the contest tied the game at 50 apiece, the first draw since the score was 2-2.
Vassallo and Cheick Diakite were honored on Senior Night prior to their final regular season game at Cassell Coliseum.
The Hokies play their regular season finale in Tallahassee against the Florida State Seminoles on Sunday at 2 p.m.