Williams Inhospitable to Waves : Pepperdine: Former Hacienda Heights Wilson center scores 29 points to lead North Carolina to 95-69 victory.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Pepperdine made the journey from Malibu but didn’t get much of a welcome from North Carolina’s only Southern Californian.

Senior center Scott Williams, from Hacienda Heights, scored a career-high 29 points to lead the Tar Heels to a 95-69 victory over the Waves Saturday before 19,847 in the Dean Smith Center.

The 6-foot-11 Williams scored two baskets in the first two minutes of the second half to key a 28-8 run by North Carolina that broke the game open.

Trailing, 42-36, at halftime, the Waves tied the score on a three-point jump shot by Craig Davis and a three-point play by Geoff Lear.

Williams came back with two quick baskets, and Pete Chilcutt added a basket to put the Tar Heels back on top for good.

Chilcutt finished with 18 points.

North Carolina took its largest lead at 92-62 with 2:20 left on a short jump shot by freshman Matt Wenstrom.

The Tar Heels (9-6) held Pepperdine scoreless for the first 4:20, taking a 10-0 lead.

Williams scored six of the Tar Heels’ first 10 points and had 15 points in the first half.

Pepperdine (6-7) cut the lead to 14-10 on three-point basketsby Tom Lewis and Shann Ferch, but North Carolina scored the next six points for a 20-10 edge.

Lear had 15 points and Lewis scored 14 for the Waves.

George Lynch had 13 points, and Rick Fox and Kevin Madden 10 for North Carolina.

Williams, whose previous career-high was 25, which he has scored three times, had only two points in the first meeting between the teams last January at Malibu. North Carolina won that one, 102-80.

Williams, who led Hacienda Heights Wilson to a state high school championship, came into Saturday’s game averaging 13.4 points. He also had six rebounds, which is below his team-leading 7.3 average.

North Carolina outrebounded the Waves, 47-23.

Pepperdine Coach Tom Asbury said: “I thought we played well in the first 25 minutes, then their size got to us. They hammered us on the boards.”

Said North Carolina’s Dean Smith: “In the second half we had a great defensive stretch and we got the ball to Williams throughout the course of the game. It was nice to end the preseason on a high note.”

North Carolina opens Atlantic Coast Conference play Wednesday against Maryland.

Pepperdine plays the University of San Diego in its West Coast Conference opener Thursday night.