North Carolina's furious comeback against Duke in the ACC Tournament semifinals came up short after Jae'lyn Withers committed a lane violation on teammate Ven-Allen Lubin's successful second free throw attempt — which had it counted,

After North Carolina cut a 24-point, second-half deficit to one, Ven-Allen Lubin had two free throws with 4.1 seconds left to potentially give the Tar Heels (22-13) the lead. But he missed the first and had the second made free throw waved off after teammate Jae’Lyn Withers stepped in the lane too early.

Kon Knueppel scored 17 points and No. 1 Duke held off a furious second half rally by rival North Carolina to beat the Tar Heels for the third time this season, 74-71 on Friday night to reach the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championship game.