Duke and North Carolina Can Come Together For a Common Cause

Students Complete 2 1/2-Day Hoops Game

Duke, UNC Students Complete 2 1/2-Day Basketball Game, Finishing With Expected World Record

The Associated Press

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Students from Atlantic Coast Conference rivals Duke and North Carolina completed their 2 1/2-day basketball game Monday, finishing with an expected world record for the longest continuous game.

Duke won 3,688-3,444. The game began at 8 a.m. Saturday and ended at 6 p.m. Monday, marking 58 straight hours in Fetzer Gymnasium on the loser's Chapel Hill campus.

The 24 students from the two schools nearly doubled a pair of similar reported world records. The Guinness World Records' Web site listed the record as 30 hours, 12 minutes set in Nebraska in 2004. Game organizers said they were later informed by Guinness of a more recent record of 33 hours, 35 minutes, set in Germany last April. They passed both marks Sunday.

The students also competed to raise the most money for the Hoop Dreams Basketball Academy, a nonprofit that uses basketball to help improve the lives of children with life-threatening illnesses. Organizers said the marathon raised nearly $60,000, short of their $80,000 target.