Sayon Keita scored 13 points, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked six shots to help North Carolina pull away to a 76-63 victory over Wyoming on Tuesday night in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Keita shot 6-of-9 from the field and sank his only free throw to round out an excellent evening in the 7-foot-1 freshman’s third collegiate game.
Maximo Adams added 13 points and nine rebounds for a Tar Heels team that is still struggling on the glass and was outrebounded 43-37 by the visitors.
Isaiah Denis and Terrence Brown had 14 points each for UNC (3-0), which began the week fourth in the “others receiving votes” category of the Top 25 AP Poll after wins over Western Carolina and Wofford.
Nasir Meyer scored 17 points and Renars Sondors added 12 for Wyoming (2-1), which had scored in the 90s in its first two blowout wins over Regis and Idaho State.
The Tar Heels held the Cowboys to 36.5% from the field and 25.8% from 3-point range.
Wyoming’s rebounding advantage was much larger early, growing to 25-15 by halftime to help the visitors remain within two at the break. And the Cowboys tied it at 31-all on Gavin Gores’ layup following another offensive board.
The Tar Heels answered with a 25-11 run to take command.
Brown began it by hitting a layup and absorbing a foul from Gores, then rebounding his own free-throw miss for a second layup to make it 35-31.
Able’s 3-pointer and Jarin Stevenson’s 3-pointer stretched the lead to double digits for the first time at 46-35. Later, Isaiah Denis hit an impressive step-back 3 from the top of the arc to stretch it to 56-42 with 12:29 to play.
Wyoming got back within eight on multiple occasions, the last time when Meyer’s mid-range jump shot cut it to 71-63 with 1:06 to play.
But the Cowboys missed on their last three shot attempts as Neo Avdalas hit a foul shot and Adams scored the last four points to seal it.