The Tar Heels trailed in all of those before the final score.

RIO DE JANEIRO -- When Lily Zhang, the American table tennis ace, decided she wanted to make her sport a priority, she took a year off from college to devote to practice, including three months playing with pros in Austria. It paid off, landing her on the Olympic team for the second time.But her decision -- leaving behind friends, family and studies at the University of California at Berkeley to put in grueling six-hour-a-day sessions for months -- highlights an unfortunate truth for U.S. table tennis: In the quest to build a team of professionals to challenge powerhouse China, school is the enemy.To succeed in a sport like table tennis that demands obsessive practice but provides little financial support, young athletes often must give up their education, at least temporarily.Many end up eventually choosing college, even if theyre good enough to make the Olympics.It was very hard to balance, Zhang, 20, who lost in the third round in singles and plays in the team event on Friday, said of her freshmen year at Berkeley. I found myself only practicing once every two weeks or even once a month.Zhang, who hunched over a PC after a recent practice session in Rio registering online for classes for her delayed sophomore year, knows that her practice time will plunge again when she returns to school later this month.I definitely cannot play professionally during university, she said. It would be very difficult to play six hours a day.And theres the dilemma.Its natural, though often painful, for young athletes playing under-funded, less popular sports like table tennis to choose college. But it puts the Americans perpetually in the hole against China, Japan and Europe, where table tennis often enjoys government support.The two things in the U.S. are currently not compatible, Massimo Costantini, the U.S. table tennis coach, said of college and high-level table tennis.To be a professional table tennis player, he said, you cant do anything else. But to do so you need support. ... What if we had the same support as other countries?A good example of the quandary table tennis faces in the United States can be seen with Ariel Hsing, a young player who made a run at the London Olympics, losing a hard-fought game in the third round to the eventual gold medalist from China.But when she started at Princeton, Costantini said, education took over. You cant make a living from table tennis for the rest of your life. Several good players, they suddenly stop because of college. ... I understand, but it is hard. I have regrets for what might have been.Kanak Jha, a 16-year-old American who was the youngest male ever to qualify for table tennis in Olympic history, takes online classes and trains with professionals in Sweden.Table tennis is a sport where you have to play many hours every day to get better, and when youre so focused on school and table tennis it gets really tough mentally and physically, Jha said.Money can be as big a problem as finding practice time.Another young American, Yijun Feng, 19, who, like Jha, lost in the first round in Rio but will play in the team event Friday, took a year off after graduating from high school to practice six hours a day in China.Feng, who will attend the University of Georgia after the Olympics, says he may take time off again after his freshman year to train and hopes to get an equipment sponsorship; in the meantime, he and his parents pay for everything, including expensive equipment and tours that can cost as much as $5,000.Leaving the sport can sometimes bring as much relief as grief.Michael Landers, a promising young table tennis talent who ultimately failed to make the 2012 Olympic team, is shown in the documentary Top Spin weeping after missing his chance for those games. Later, after enrolling at New York University, he described the intense pressure of juggling friends, family, school and table tennis.Everything I felt was just riding on my back. And then just to be finished with that, he said of his tears after the loss. I was really, really happy to just be done with it, even though I was crushed.---Follow Foster Klug at www.twitter.com/apklug Lawrence Taylor Youth Jersey . Both players have lower body injuries that will keep them out of the lineup until at least January 31, which is the first game they can be activated from IR. Phil Simms Youth Jersey .com) - The Pittsburgh Penguins placed forward James Neal on injured reserve Tuesday. http://www.giantsrookiestore.com/Giants-Carl-Banks-Jersey/ . Lack made 20 saves for his third shutout of the season as the Canucks blanked the St. Louis Blues 1-0 in the first post-Olympic game for both teams night. Michael Strahan Giants Jersey . With their top three point guards and Kobe Bryant all sidelined by injury, the Lakers signed Marshall out of the D-League on Friday before their home game against Minnesota. Doug Kotar Jersey .Y. -- Bills receiver Stevie Johnson has a bone to pick with the NFL schedule maker. CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Apparently, North Carolina is quite comfortable in the frenetic final seconds of a close game.The No. 17 Tar Heels have won their past two games with scores in the last 5 seconds, marking the fifth time in three seasons that theyve erased a deficit and won a game with a final-minute score. Its a confidence-building run of success entering Saturdays visit from No. 25 Virginia Tech in a key matchup for the Tar Heels in their bid to repeat as the Atlantic Coast Conferences Coastal Division champion.I think you just see what this teams made of, quarterback Mitch Trubisky said Monday. We keep going back to the word `grit. I think thats a good word to describe this team and . and how were never really out of the fight -- just keep battling to the last second.Its been working out for us and to just keep coming away with wins has been really exciting.The Tar Heels (4-1, 2-0 ACC) re-entered the AP Top 25 after a 37-35 win at then-No. 12 Florida State, a game that saw them blow a 21-point lead and fall behind with 23 seconds left. But, armed with two timeouts, the Tar Heels got in position to set up Nick Weilers 54-yard field goal at the horn to win.That came a week after Trubisky connected with Bug Howard for a 2-yard score with 2 seconds left in a 37-36 win against Pittsburgh, a throw that capped a 17-play drive and a comeback from 13 down in the last 6 minutes.Its the first time UNC has won consecutive games by two points or fewer since 1985.It shows that they know how to win, Hokies running back Sam Rogers said. They know how to pull close victories like that one and down to the wire. Its a team thats never going to feel like theyre out of a game. So you can never let up on any team, especially North Carolina.The roots of that success started in the 2014 season.dddddddddddd Current senior T.J. Logan scored a 2-yard touchdown run with 11 seconds left to cap a 75-yard drive in a 48-43 win against Georgia Tech, then scored a 1-yard TD with 50 seconds left in a 40-35 win against Pittsburgh later that year.Last November, the Tar Heels edged the Hokies 30-27 with a final-play touchdown pass in overtime to clinch the Coastal title in the final home game for longtime Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer.The Tar Heels trailed in all of those before the final score. Throw in a 74-yard TD punt return by current Cincinnati Bengals running back Gio Bernard with 13 seconds left to break a tie and beat rival North Carolina State in 2012, and the Tar Heels have six wins on final-minute scores under fifth-year coach Larry Fedora.Fedora can point to at least one reason for the success: the Tar Heels run a fast-paced spread offense that doesnt have to change anything in how it operates when time gets tight. And that unit practices plenty of end-game scenarios to get ready.Our guys think its just make the routine plays, Fedora said. We havent had to make any acrobatic flipping catches or anything. . They know on Wednesday were going to go against our defense and were going to have a different situation they have to come up with. Im going to give it to them right before they go and then theyve got to figure it out.Ive got a new one now: 23 seconds on the clock and two timeouts.---AP Sports Writer Hank Kurz in Richmond, Virginia, contributed to this report.---Follow Aaron Beard on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/aaronbeardap and the APs college ' ' '