By Briana Gorman

bgorman@heraldsun.com; 419-6668

NEW YORK — North Carolina coach Roy Williams admitted he chewed out Marcus Ginyard after the Tar Heels’ win over Valparaiso on Sunday,

The team played without much effort in the victory and Ginyard turned the ball over a team-high five times.

Four days later the fifth-year senior responded to his coach’s criticism.

Ginyard scored 13 points, including a career-high three 3-pointers, to help the sixth-ranked Tar Heels hang on to beat No. 15 Ohio State 77-73 at Madison Square Garden on Thursday in the semifinals of the 2K Sports Coaches vs. Cancer Classic.

UNC will play Syracuse today at 7:15 p.m. (ESPN2) in the championship game as the Orange beat No. 13 Cal 95-73 in Thursday’s early game. Ohio State and Cal meet in the consolation game today at 5 p.m. (ESPN2).

“I just knew I had to step up and play a better game,” Ginyard said. “And if anything give more effort than I gave on Sunday night.”

UNC dominated most of the game but things got interesting in the closing minutes. The Buckeyes were down by as many as 19 in the second half but kept chipping away and a David Lighty 3-pointer, followed by his steal at midcourt, which he converted into a layup, cut the score to 68-60 with 2:08 to play.

But Ginyard then showed the leadership he sometimes lacked Sunday by hitting a 3-pointer to push UNC’s lead back up to 11.

“I think Marcus’ 3 right in front of our bench was big,” Williams said.

The teams traded baskets and then Lighty hit another 3-pointer — after Larry Drew II missed both free throws — to put the score at 73-68 with 41 seconds remaining. Drew was sent to the free throw line twice more and made just two of four shots to allow Jon Diebler to make another OSU 3-pointer to cut the deficit to two points with 11 seconds remaining in the game.

But Drew was sent to the free throw line for a final time and this time he sunk both shots to ice the game.

“I was pretty relieved [to make those final free throws],” Drew said. “It was a hard fought win for us. They did a good job coming back on us.”

UNC displayed effort and hustle in the first half of Thursday’s game that was missing in the win over Valparaiso. The Tar Heels jumped to a 7-0 lead to start the game and a Ginyard 3-pointer gave them a 15-5 lead six minutes in. UNC pushed its lead out to as many as 16 in the first half but a 3-pointer by Diebler cut that lead to 35-24 with 1:49 remaining in the half. UNC’s defense, however, prevented OSU from getting any closer and Ginyard hit another 3 from the corner with two seconds to play to give his team a 38-24 lead headed into the break.

The Tar Heel shot 48.3 percent in the first half and held the Buckeyes to 29 percent from the floor.

“I liked our competitiveness tonight,” Williams said. “The first [two] games we were OK but last Sunday we weren’t very tough.”

UNC continued to dominate in the second half and Deon Thompson bucket put his team up 55-36 with 10:21 to play. Thompson finished with a team-high 15 points and 12 rebounds. Teammate Will Graves tied his career high points with 14.

Ginyard’s job for most of the game was to stick to the Buckeyes’ leading scorer and rebounder, Evan Turner. The 6-7 junior entered the game averaging 19 points and 17 rebounds and scored a game-high 23 points and grabbed 11 rebounds Thursday.

“I just think we did a much better just of just competing out there,” Ginyard said. “I think we just made a huge stride from the way we played Sunday afternoon.”