Top 25: North Carolina 79, No. 20 UNLV 73

Top 25 basketball • The Tar Heels won their 63rd consecutive nonconference home game.

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Chapel Hill, N.C. • P.J. Hairston scored 15 points in his first career start to help North Carolina beat No. 20 UNLV 79-73 on Saturday.

Dexter Strickland added a season-high 16 points for the Tar Heels (10-3), who led by 15 points in the first half and by nine at the break. But UNC had to turn away a second-half surge by the Runnin' Rebels (11-2) to earn the program's 63rd straight home win against nonconference opponents.

Freshman Anthony Bennett had 15 points and 13 rebounds for UNLV, which led by a point briefly in the second half but spent most of the game in catch-up mode. Katin Reinhardt and Anthony Marshall both added 15 points for the Runnin' Rebels, who also got Mike Moser back from an elbow injury after a four-game absence.

Hairston started in place of Reggie Bullock, who sat out with a mild concussion suffered in Thursday's practice. —