CLEVELAND, OH – Any checklist in advance of things North Carolina needed to do in order to defeat Kentucky on Saturday probably included hitting some perimeter shots.

Likely missing was the need for Kerwin Walton to drain those shots. But that’s exactly what happened in the Tar Heels’ 75-63 victory over the Wildcats in the CBS Sports Classic at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. And boy did the Heels need them.

Walton, who entered the game having converted just two shots on the season in 62 minutes of action, triggered a second half run that was decisive in UNC’s victory. It lifted the Heels from a 48-42 deficit to where they just kept pushing, using a 12-1 run to seize control of the game and eventually close out the Wildcats 33-15 over the game’s final 13 minutes.

Walton knocked down a 3-pointer after a kickout from Armando Bacot to cut UK’s lead to 48-46 with 12:46 remaining, and 42 seconds later, after a pass from Garrison Brooks, the freshman from Minnesota sank another.

Twenty-two seconds after that, when a dead ball promoted an official timeout, every Tar Heel on the bench erupted onto the floor to greet Walton. He was the man of the hour.

"It was amazing,” Walton said. “Just seeing everybody so excited for me kind of juiced me up, got me some energy inside. It definitely juiced the whole team up and we just came out guns blazing. We were excited and it definitely helped us keep our energy up."

It most certainly did. From that point on, the Tar Heels were better offensively by a country mile, defended better, and simply wore down the Wildcats, who had four players foul out.

But Walton wasn’t done.

He drained a pair of free throws for a 51-49 lead and put the finishing touches on the Wildcats with two free throws for the game’s final points.

Intertwined in the 12-1 run was a floater by fellow freshman Puff Johnson, which pleased their Hall of Fame coach. The two freshmen people least talked about factored the most in the game’s decisive stretch, fueled by Walton, of course.

"A lot of it goes to the fact that we didn't have RJ (Davis) and we needed somebody to step up and make an outside shot, and I feel that Kerwin's our best 3-point shooter,” UNC Coach Roy Williams said. “He's been struggling with it, there's no question… But, if we were to have a shooting contest, he would almost win it every day.

“I told the team, when the game was over with in the locker room, the biggest moment of the game for me was they've got a six-point lead and Kerwin and Puff scored 10 or 12 of our next 15 points. And I thought that was huge.”

Perhaps a reflection of how Walton’s game as a collegian is growing is that in the first half, Williams yanked him out after a difficult minute on the floor. The coach then offered up a lesson to the marksman who turned 19 in October.

Andrew Platek was summoned into the game and played a long stretch. Walton didn’t return to the court until moments before his hot stretch commenced. The older Heel offered advice through experience to the younger Heel.

"I can relate to Kerwin because coach has been on me for four years doing that stuff,” Platek said. “So, I just keep telling him, 'Next play, next shot. You're gonna make mistakes like it's not all sunshine and rainbows every time you step out on the court, you're not going to make every shot you take, but you're going to think you are.'

“So, that's what I tell him. Just keep shooting the ball and, if you mess up, okay. Internalize it, learn from it, move on."

That’s exactly what Walton did, and it paid off.

"Both threes felt good,” he said. “I kind of felt this was my time. I knew my time was coming throughout the whole season, all the games we played, I was just being patient, just trying to feel out my team and feel out my atmosphere.

“But yeah, every shot I took, it felt great. So, I kind of knew it was going in and, as soon as I released it.”

In all, Walton was 3-for-3 from beyond the arc raising his season numbers to 5-for-12. It was one game, but Carolina needed him to step up and he did.