LAHAINA, Hawaii — Seemingly out of its first-round game by halftime, No. 12 North Carolina instead proved some more Maui magic was in store on a wild Monday.

RJ Davis scored a career-high 30 points and Seth Trimble added a personal-best 27 with 10 rebounds as the Tar Heels rallied from 21 points down in the second half to defeat Dayton, 92-90, capping the first day of Maui Invitational action back on the Valley Isle since the August 2023 wildfires forced the relocation of last year’s tournament.

An unlikely hero, Drake Powell, took a pass from Davis and hit a corner 3 for the go-ahead points with 1:13 left, and Davis closed the game out with four straight free-throw makes.

Symbolizing UNC’s spirit, retired Tar Heels legendary coach Roy Williams absorbed a collision with out-of-control Dayton guard Javon Bennett on the baseline in the final minutes, stood back up and flashed a thumbs up as the pro-Carolina crowd cheered.

“It was electric. It was like a high school-type atmosphere, something we all kind of miss,” Trimble said. “It was a super loud gym. We had I don't know however many percent of the gym packed out with our fans.”

The Heels (4-1) will take on No. 4 Auburn (5-0) in Tuesday’s 6 p.m. semifinal. Memphis (5-0), an upset winner over No. 2 UConn, faces Michigan State (5-1) in the first semifinal at 1 p.m.

The Flyers (5-1) hit 14 3-pointers, but it was the ephemeral 15^th that was the most memorable. Nate Santos’ apparent corner triple to tie the game for Dayton with six seconds left was changed to a 2-pointer after replay showed he had a sneaker on the line.

“Credit to them. They went on a roll,” said Santos, who scored 15 points to lead six Flyers in double figures. “They punched back. I think us, we got to keep our composure, just continue to go together.”

Dayton had to take a foul and Davis was money. The All-American sank 10 of 11 free throws on the night.

Davis and Trimble combined to score 37 points in the second half after Dayton of the Atlantic 10 Conference led 51-33 at halftime.

“I would just say it's heart and not giving up and wanting to compete and wanting to win,” Davis said. “The starting five and the bench. We went into that locker room, obviously some explicit words being said. That was in a way of trying to get everybody to compete hard. They were kicking our butts on both ends of the floor. Outhustling us, out-toughing us. We didn't allow that no more in the second half.”

The comeback win tied the second-largest in UNC history and tied for the storied program’s largest second-half comeback victory, both set in the early 1990s.

UNC nearly did something similar at No. 1 Kansas before heading out for four total games in Hawaii, but fell short in the final seconds at Allen Fieldhouse.

“I told them at I think the 16-minute mark in the second half, you guys aren't making comeback plays. You're not making the plays to be able to come back. You're just not,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said. “You're not getting the rebounds. You're not getting the stops. You're not getting the loose balls, finishing around the basket. You're not setting the screens, running the plays right. You're just not. That switched …  We just started chipping away.”

It was the third remarkable rally on the day in the Lahaina Civic Center. UConn came back from 13 points down in the last four minutes against Memphis, but lost in overtime, 99-97, and No. 4 Auburn turned things around from 18 down and beat No. 5 Iowa State, 83-81.

Anthony Grant’s Flyers, who lost a memorable overtime game to Kansas in the Maui final in 2019, have a quick turnaround to play No. 5 Iowa State at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.

“It's a hard loss. We felt like we had chances to win the game,” Grant said. “So we got to be able to be resilient and put our focus on the next game.”

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.