NEW YORK – There was no letting UCLA get out of Madison Square Garden with a win.

And there was no way North Carolina was going to blow another late-game sequence sending it to the loser’s circle for the fourth time in as many similar opportunities.

That will and want, the Tar Heels say, is why they applied foot-to-throat against the No. 18 Bruins and earned a 76-74 victory in the CBS Sports Classic on Saturday.

“Intensity and just determination on the defensive end,” junior guard Seth Trimble said. “When we apply ourselves on the defensive end, and we just tell ourselves this is what we’re going to do and we make it happen, we’re a whole new team.”

The Heels trailed 59-43 with 12:50 left to play, but outscored the Bruins, 33-15, to close out the game. Yet, the last three times they overcame a huge deficit to take late-game leads, it was squandered.

After trailing Florida twice by as many as 17 points, Carolina caught the Gators with 7:51 left taking a 69-68 lead after Trimble converted a layup in transition. The Tar Heels led, 81-77, with 4:02 left but were closed out 13-3, as the Gators made eight free throws and scored eight points off of four offensive rebounds. UNC didn’t score over the final 2:13.

In a loss to Michigan State in Hawaii, the Heels trailed by 14 but came back sending the game into overtime. In that five-minute segment, however, UNC was 2-for-8 from the floor while MSU was 3-for-4 with the buckets being two dunks and a layup. It was another defensive breakdown in the 94-91 loss.

In the second game of the season, the Tar Heels trailed then-No. 1 Kansas by 20 points inside the Jayhawks’ hallowed hall, but the Heels battled back taking an 87-83 lead with 3:28 remaining. Yet, they were outscored 9-2 to close out the game and converted just one shot from the field during that span.

The Heels flipped the script at MSG. What was the difference?

"It's a big difference because down the stretch, we've talked about and experienced not doing the little things that make big things happen,” UNC Coach Hubert Davis said. “A box out, an execution, a loose ball, a free throw, different stuff like that.

“And down the stretch in terms of the discipline and details, with the exception of us fouling and putting them on the free throw line, I thought we were really good on both ends of the floor.”

Unlike the other three noted games, it took UNC longer to catch the Bruins. Carolina trailed by between one and four points from 6:44 remaining until finally tying the game at 72-72 on a Jalen Washington out back off a Trimble miss with 1:32 remaining.

Instead of turning the ball over, which Elliot Cadeau did in a crucial situation in the loss to Florida, and allowing too many rebounds while failing to put the ball in the basket, Davis’ team took care of business.

The Tar Heels (7-5) (outscored UCLA 8-3 after trailing by three with 3:42 remaining, preventing the Bruins from scoring a field goal.

Cadeau walked off the floor last Tuesday in Charlotte overcome by emotion, saying he cost them the game. He flipped that script Saturday as well.

“For me personally, the difference was to focus on taking care of the ball and not turning the ball over,” he said. “That was just in my head the whole last four minutes. Just be strong with the ball because UCLA is really good at forcing turnovers. That was a big thing for me.”

Perhaps the learned lessons from those other experiences paid off, and perhaps the Heels simply had one going their way. Whatever it is, they flipped the script.