Oregon-North Carolina game delayed as game ball goes missing in second half

Friday's game between No. 6 North Carolina and No. 11 Oregon went down to the wire. But before it ended, play was halted in the second half for a very obscure reason.

Officials lost track of the game ball and had to find it before the contest could resume. The ball was accidentally taken off the court following a timeout. It got mixed up with non-authorized game balls during a show that was put on for fans as time was stopped.

North Carolina head coach Roy Williams was spotted assisting officials gather all of the balls that were near the court as the searched for the authorized one. After a brief period, the balls were tracked down and the game resumed.

Once the game started up again, North Carolina was able to outlast Oregon and come away with a 78-74 win in the third place game in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament. Forward Armando Bacot paced the Tar Heels with 23 points and 12 rebounds while freshman phenom Cole Anthony added 19 points of his own.

The No. 6 Tar Heels fell to Michigan, 73-64, on Thursday, which was why they found themselves in the third place game.

Timeout entertainment has certainly become a very big deal in basketball at both the collegiate and professional levels, but this is something that you don't see every day. Fortunately for the officials assigned to this game, Williams put his detective hat on and helped find the missing game ball.