UNC players leave bench early during celebration

Published Mar. 23, 2015 10:03 p.m. ET

foxsports

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) Some North Carolina players ran onto the court before the final horn sounded of their buzzer-beating 86-84 victory over Ohio State on Monday night in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Tar Heels won it on a jumper by Jamie Cherry with 0.6 seconds remaining. After her 18-footer swished through, a handful of Tar Heels ran from the bench onto the court in celebration as the Buckeyes inbounded the ball but didn't get a final shot off before the buzzer.

According to Rule 10, Sect. 4, Article 7 of the NCAA rulebook, such a delay in a game shall be ignored ''when the delay does not interfere with play.''

After the horn, the three officials huddled at midcourt then went to the table and said there wasn't any interference.

''The rule was enforced correctly,'' said June Courteau, who is the NCAA women's basketball national coordinator of officiating.

Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff was not asked about it - and did not bring it up on his own - during his postgame news conference.