Brandon Triche and Arinze Onuaku combined for 13 points in Syracuse's 22-1 run to open the second half and the Orange went on to a 87-71 victory against No. 6 North Carolina last night in the championship game of the 2K Sports Classic.

Syracuse (4-0) was the only unranked team in the semifinals of the tournament that benefits Coaches vs. Cancer, but they left Madison Square Garden in New York with blowout wins against No. 13 California and the Tar Heels (4-1).

North Carolina had a 39-37 halftime lead but that was gone in a hurry as Triche and Onuaku had field goals in the first 40 seconds. By the time the run ended eight minutes into the second half Syracuse had a 59-40 lead.

Tournament MVP Wesley Johnson had 25 points for Syracuse, Onuaku finished with 15 points and Triche had 11.

Johnson, a 6-foot-7 junior transfer from Iowa State, was 10 of 17 from the field, including making half of eight 3-point attempts, and had eight rebounds.

Ed Davis had 16 points and 10 rebounds and Marcus Ginyard added 15 points for the Tar Heels, who lost almost all of a 19-point second-half lead before beating No. 15 Ohio State, 77-73, to reach the title game.

• Villanova 71, Dayon 65: Corey Fisher scored 18 points to help No. 5 Villanova beat No. 18 Dayton in the second round of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off in San Juan. Fisher was perfect in four late trips to the free-throw line for the Wildcats (4-0). Luke Fabrizius led Dayton (2-1) with 16 points and nine rebounds.

• DePaul 60, Northern Iowa 52: Jeremiah Kelly had a career-high 18 points and eight rebounds and DePaul (2-0) closed with a 20-6 run to beat Northern Iowa (1-1) in the first round of the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.

• Seton Hall 89, Cornell 79: The Pirates moved to 3-0 with their second consecutive road victory. Cornell fell to 2-1.

• St. John's 79, Brown 76: Sean Evans had 14 points, 9 rebounds and 3 steals as host St. John's moved to 3-0 with victory against Brown (1-3).

• Rutgers 58, Drexel 56: Gregory Echenique had 16 points and 14 rebounds as host Rutgers (2-0) slipped past Drexel (0-3).

• Alabama 84, Providence 75: Jamine Peterson had a game-high 27 points but Providence (3-1) lost its first of the season, at Alabama (2-1).

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