Marcus Paige, North Carolina Sweet 16 bound

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Forward Brice Johnson scored 21 points and North Carolina clamped down on foul-plagued Providence in the second half to run away with an 85-66 victory in the in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday night at PNC Arena.

North Carolina (30-6), the top seed in the East Regional, plays Indiana in the Sweet 16 on Friday night in Philadelphia. It advanced to the round of 16 for a record 26th time.

The Tar Heels reached 30 wins for the 12th time. Six of those have come in 13 seasons under coach Roy Williams.

Guard Joel Berry (15 points), forwards Justin Jackson (15 points) and Isaiah Hicks (13 points) and guard Marcus Paige (12 points), a former Linn-Mar prep, contributed to North Carolina's balanced attack.

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Guard Kris Dunn scored 29 points for ninth-seeded Providence (24-11). Forward Ben Bentil, the team's leading scorer, fouled out with 7:23 remaining after scoring 21 points on 7-of-17 shooting from the field

Aside from Dunn and Bentil, the three other starters for the Friars combined for four points. Forward Rodney Bullock, who made the winning basket two nights earlier against USC, was 0 of 7 from the field and ended up with two points.

Providence scored the first six points of the second half to go ahead at 36-34.

With the score tied at 41, the Tar Heels scored the next nine points.

Paige had five consecutive points during another key juncture as North Carolina was on the way to building a 57-48 edge.

The Tar Heels used a 9-0 run late in the first half to secure a 34-30 advantage at halftime.

Providence didn't connect on a field goal in the final 5:50 of the half, but two free throws from Bullock thwarted some of North Carolina's momentum.

North Carolina took the ball inside, accounting for 18 of its first 21 points in the paint. The other three points came on Paige's long-range 3-pointer.

A 21-14 lead for the Tar Heels was wiped out by Providence's 8-0 run. That came with Dunn on the bench with two fouls.

Dunn had 10 points at the half but sat out for about 11 minutes. Paige also had two fouls, missing eight minutes.