CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Nationally-ranked North Carolina improved its record on the year to 5-0 with a 73-61 victory over the Navy men's basketball team (2-3), Tuesday night at the Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill, N.C.  The Tar Heels were ranked 18th (Associated Press) and 19th (Coaches) in this week's two national polls.

"Really proud of the guys," said Navy head coach Jon Perry.  "Loved the grit of this team and their will to win.  I think we are getting better. We are not a finished product.  We are five games in and we just have to continue to bring it every day in practice.  

"I think we embraced the environment.  We had two really good days of preparation.  We are growing as a team.  We didn't back down."

North Carolina quickly scored the first seven points of the game, but from there it was fairly even for the majority of the rest of the half.  Jinwoo Kim soon had a three-point attempt that had it gone in would have made the score 19-18, and later Donovan Draper also missed a three-point attempt that would have tied the game at 20.  After the Draper miss, the Tar Heels promptly hit back-to-back triples -- their fourth and fifth of the half -- to extend their lead to nine points at 26-17.  

North Carolina would soon take 12-point leads at 32-20 and 34-22, but the Mids chipped away at the deficit and an Austin Benigni triple just before the halftime buzzer pulled the Mids to within 38-31.

The Tar Heels were 5-10 from three-point range in the half while the Mids were 2-8.  

The Mids had shots on back-to-back possessions early in the second half that would have made it a 39-37 game if one of them dropped, but following those misses the Tar Heels quickly scored on four-straight times down the floor to take a 47-35 lead with just over 16 minutes still to play.  It became a 49-40 game when North Carolina went on an 11-0 run to build a 60-40 lead with eight minutes remaining.

"There was a stretch in the second half where the game got away from us a little bit," said Perry.  "Our shot selection led to them getting in transition. And obviously Caleb Wilson (23 points, 12 rebounds) is a handful in transition.

"They (North Carolina) are really talented.  They are a top-20 team in the country and they want to play in transition.  One of our goals was to try and take them out of transition by our shot selection and taking care of the ball. I am really proud of the guys; we had only six turnovers. They are long and athletic and I thought we did a good job of playing off of two feet, of spacing and taking care of the basketball."

The Tar Heels eventually took a 68-44 lead only to see Navy go on a 13-0 run to cut the margin down to 68-57 with 2:13 remaining.  After a Navy timeout, Draper stole the ball at halfcourt and threw down a two-handed dunk to make it a 68-59 game with two minutes on the clock.  The Tar Heels ran down nearly all of the shot clock on their ensuing possession before Jarin Stevenson launched a three-point shot with one second remaining on the clock.  The ball bounced on and spun around the rim before falling through to make it a 71-59 game with 90 seconds left.

North Carolina held just an 8-6 lead in three-point field goals made by the end of the game, but was 17-22 from the foul line in contrast to the 13-16 effort by the Mids.  The taller Tar Heels finished with a 45-38 advantage on the glass, but the Mids held an 8-7 lead in second-chance points.  Navy committed just six turnovers on the night and forced 13.  Additionally, it was a 13-7 edge for North Carolina in fast break points.

"Our perimeter players had some defensive rebounds," said Perry.  "Those guys are really important to helping us rebound. Offensively we had 13 boards.  Really proud of the guys for attacking."

Benigni, who played all but 36 seconds of the game, finished with 19 points, five rebounds and five assists.  Kim had another good night as he totaled 14 points and six caroms, Kehoe tallied five points and eight rebounds, Draper had five points, six rebounds and four steals and Mike Woods recorded nine points, two rebounds, two steals and two blocks.

Navy returns to Alumni Hall Saturday when it plays host to NJIT at noon.