At about 1:15 a.m. Tuesday, the ink still fresh on the championship T-shirts, Dr. David Williams and J.C. Young toasted North Carolina's fifth basketball national title.

But the two Thomasville residents and longtime Tar Heel supporters toasted with ice cream-- Haagen Dasz chocolate-chocolate chip.

They were part of a quartet, three from Thomasville, who had tickets to the title game between Carolina and Michigan State at Detroit's Ford Field, courtesy of the Boys and Girls of the Sandhills. Young is from Oak Island.

Carolina cruised to an easy 89-72 victory.

Ron Myers, of Pinehurst, won four tickets through a fundraising raffle to benefit the club. He couldn't go, so he gave the tickets to his mother, Frances, and her friends, Johnny Cutshaw, Young and Williams.

The four along with three others -- Don Lauderdale, Sean Furby and a reporter from The Pilot ventured to the Motor City.

"I thought the total package was pretty good," Young said of the trip. "I mean what could have made it better. Your team is playing for a national championship and you win it, and on top of that you had great seats."

Snowy, cold, windy weather plagued much of the trip, but the Tar Heels sizzling 21-7 start against the Spartans warmed the hearts of all those clad in baby blue.

The start silenced the majority of the nearly 73,000 fans -- a record number to watch an NCAA tournament game -- who were pulling for Michigan State.

The trip winners were treated to a private plane ride to Michigan, accommodations, meals and limo for the trip.

For more on this story, see Wednesday's print edition of The Pilot.