UNCA’s Bryan Smithson had a game-high 25 points at North Carolina last Wednesday night. Photo courtesy of UNCA

CHAPEL HILL — Bryan Smithson scored a game-high 25 points and Kenny George recorded his second straight double-double, but it wasn’t quite enough as top-ranked North Carolina had to hold off a strong effort by UNC Asheville before recording a 93-81 win last Wednesday night at the Smith Center.

Smithson recorded his second-highest point production of the season on 10-of-15 shooting. K.J. Garland added 16 points and six assists for UNC Asheville (11-4), which had its three-game winning streak snapped.

George had 10 points in the first half and finished with 14 points and a team-high 11 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season and his third in the last four games. Vincent James added 11 points for the Dogs who shot 53.2 percent from the floor in the game.

“I thought we played a good game. We didn’t come here to just play a ‘good game,’” UNCA coach Eddie Biedenbach said afterward. “When we got the score back to 10, we’re shooting a free throw with about four minutes to go, we thought we could put some pressure on.

“We scored well, 40 and 41, and we scored enough on them, but defensively in the first half we gave up 53 points and didn’t rebound, had a lot of poor defensive coverages which resulted in three or four wide-open threes. They were six for 12 from three in the first half and you can’t do that against a great team.”

“UNC Asheville is a good basketball team,” UNC coach and Western North Carolina native Roy Williams said.

“Eddie has done a really nice job, and I will be really surprised if they do not have a really good year.”

Tyler Hansbrough had 23 points to pace North Carolina (16-0). Wayne Ellington scored 19 points, Ty Lawson had 17 and reserve Danny Green had 12 of his 14 in the first half for the Tar Heels, who never trailed in completing its first perfect nonconference regular season since 1998 and just its fifth in 50 years.

Deon Thompson added 10 rebounds for the Tar Heels, who flirted with a turnover-free first half before backup forward Mike Copeland couldn’t keep control of the ball in the paint with 4 seconds left, leading to a layup at the buzzer by Garland that made it 53-40.

A three-pointer by Garland made the 54-45 just one minute into the second half but UNC went on a 13-4 run to grab a 67-49 with 14:12 to play.

Asheville pulled back to with 10 points on a George dunk at the 5:06 mark to make the score 84-74. The ‘Dogs had four shots to get the lead under 10 points but failed to do so. The Tar Heels then used a 9-0 run to build their largest lead at 93-74 with 2:04 left to play. Asheville ended the game on a 7-0 run to pull the final margin to 12 points.

“Garland and Smithson are two very good players,” Williams said. “I really think they were a load for us. I don’t think we really got them under control for any portion of the game.”