Tyler Hansbrough banged around and scored in the paint while Wayne Ellington knocked down outside shots. It was more than enough to keep third-ranked North Carolina atop the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Hansbrough had 29 points to continue his late-season surge while Ellington added 17 in the Tar Heels' 89-73 win over Wake Forest last night at Chapel Hill, N.C., helping them move a half-game ahead of Duke.

Danny Green had 15 points for the Tar Heels (26-2, 11-2 ACC), who shot 56 percent — 7-for-14 from 3-point range — to win their fourth straight in the series and fifth in a row overall.

Not bad, given their recent injuries.

"There's nothing we can do about it," Hansbrough said. "We can't sit back and say, 'Some guys are hurt.' That's where some guys are stepping up."

The 6-foot-9 Hansbrough turned in another stellar performance, going 9-for-13 from the field and 11-for-14 from the line. It was his seventh straight game with at least 22 points, a streak that began when the Tar Heels lost point guard Ty Lawson to a sprained left ankle in the early minutes of an overtime win at Florida State on Feb. 3.

Wake Forest is 16-9 and 6-6.

NO. 9 STANFORD 79, CALIFORNIA 69: Anthony Goods scored 20 points and Brook Lopez added 15 points and nine rebounds in host Stanford's victory over California, keeping the Cardinal (22-4, 11-3) in the race for the Pac-10 title with their ninth win in 10 games. California is 15-10 and 6-8.

NO. 10 XAVIER 57, DAYTON 51: Josh Duncan scored 14 points, Drew Lavender made four free throws in the final 35 seconds and Xavier (24-4, 12-1 Atlantic 10) beat host Dayton (17-9, 5-8).

No. 11 Wisconsin 58, Ohio St. 53: Jason Bohannon came off the bench to score 16 points and Wisconsin (23-4, 13-2) relied on its stout defense to hold off Ohio State (17-10, 8-6) at Columbus. Jamar Butler, Ohio State's captain and leading scorer, was held out of the starting lineup because of what was termed a "coach's decision."

No. 18 Louisville 75, Pittsburgh 73: David Padgett made three of four free throws in the final 32.1 seconds and Louisville (22-6, 12-3) moved back into a first-place tie with Georgetown in the Big East, holding on to beat host Pittsburgh (19-8, 7-7), for its seventh consecutive victory.

No. 21 Notre Dame 94, Syracuse 87: Kyle McAlarney made a school-record nine 3-pointers to finish with 30 points and Notre Dame (21-5, 11-3) won its 18th straight Big East home game. Syracuse is 17-11 and 7-8.

WOMEN

NO. 4 MARYLAND 92, FLORIDA STATE 84: Kristi Toliver scored eight of her 24 points in overtime and Maryland (28-2, 12-1 ACC) rallied to beat Florida State (16-11, 6-6) to finish 19-0 at home.

No. 3 Tennessee 72, Mississippi State 46: Candace Parker scored 19 points and set a new Tennessee record for blocks as the host Lady Vols (25-2, 11-1 Southeastern Conference) overcame a slow start to beat Mississippi State (16-12, 4-9). Parker blocked five shots to set a new Tennessee career record with 247, surpassing Shelia Frost's total of 246.

No. 10 Old Dominion 66, Drexel 51: Tiffany Green scored 12 points to lead Old Dominion (24-3, 15-0 Colonial Athletic Association) to its 18th straight win with a victory over Drexel (15-11, 10-5) at Norfolk, Va.

No. 12 Duke 78, Virginia 70: Chante Black scored 15 of her 22 points in the second half, and Wanisha Smith added 16 points in her final home game to lift Duke (21-7, 10-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) past visiting Virginia (20-8, 8-4).

No. 14 Notre Dame 66, DePaul 64: Erica Williamson tied a career-high with 16 points and added eight rebounds to help Notre Dame (21-6, 9-4 Big East) beat host DePaul (18-8, 7-6).

No. 17 George Washington 61, Saint Joseph's 53: Jessica Adair scored 20 points to help George Washington (22-5, 10-2 Atlantic-10) beat host Saint Joseph's (14-13, 6-6).

No. 19 UTEP 89, Central Florida 74: Jareica Hughes scored 23 points to lead visiting UTEP (23-2, 14-0) over Central Florida (9-18, 2-12), clinching the Miners' first regular-season Conference USA championship.

No. 21 Texas A&M 65, Texas 50: Takia Starks scored 22 points and Texas A&M (20-7, 8-5 Big 12) pulled away early in the second half to earn a third straight win over rival Texas (16-11, 4-9) at Austin.

No. 24 Georgia 68, Auburn 56: Tasha Humphrey scored 22 points and Georgia (20-7, 7-5) overcame a 9-minute drought without a field goal to beat visiting Auburn (18-9, 6-6 Southeastern Conference).