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DETROIT (AP) — The horn had barely sounded when Danny Green ran onto the court waving a towel, followed closely by Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and the rest of their North Carolina teammates. They ran to midcourt, mobbed each other and jumped around on the Final Four logo.

This was the moment they hoped for.

This was the reason they stayed.

And with Monday night's 89-72 win over Michigan State, the Tar Heel quartet who considered a jump to the NBA as underclassmen last year have accomplished what they came back to school to do.

They've won the program's fifth NCAA championship.

Hansbrough finished with 18 points, the final game of a career in which he set the Atlantic Coast Conference's scoring record and the school's rebounding mark.

Lawson had 21 points and a championship game-record eight steals, while Ellington scored 17 of his 19 points in the first half to help the Tar Heels take a commanding lead. He ended the night as the Final Four's most outstanding player. Green had just six points before fouling out with 1:41 to play.

Still, the stats didn't matter. Not to a team that had carried the Tar Heels to a regional championship game in 2007 and a Final Four last season, only to fall short each time.

But not this time. They roared out of the gate to take a double-digit lead in the first 4 minutes and made enough plays near the end to thwart the Spartans' desperate, but ultimately futile, comeback attempts.

The moment was particularly sweet for Hansbrough, who talked openly about how badly he wanted to win a championship from the moment he arrived in Chapel Hill in 2005. He became one of the few four-year stars seemingly left in the college game and the first returning AP national player of the year since Shaquille O'Neal in 1991.

Lawson, Ellington and Green all opted to enter the NBA draft so they could work out for teams. But coach Roy Williams said none had the guaranteed draft position they wanted — Ellington and Green didn't figure to be first-round picks — so they opted to come back for another push.

With their top six scorers back, the Tar Heels were a unanimous preseason pick to win the national championship. They played through injuries and under the weight of impossibly high expectations, including questions of whether they would go unbeaten. Hansbrough — praised for his determination and gritty work ethic — was even criticized for his game not being what it was last season.

But it all paid off Monday night, when they completed a dominating run through the NCAA tournament in which they won every game by at least 12 points. They were the first team to win every game by double figures on the way to the title since Duke in 2001.

North Carolina rolled to a 15-5 lead in the early minutes, then stretched that margin to as many as 24 points in the first half before taking a 55-34 lead into the break. And each time Michigan State tried to rally in the second half, the Tar Heels had an answer.

When the Spartans closed to within 68-53, Lawson penetrated through the defense and found Hansbrough for a layup with about 9 minutes left. When Michigan State clawed even closer to 78-65, Lawson blew by his defender and made a double-pump layup in the final seconds of the shot clock. It was as close as the Spartans would get.

Eventually, Williams pulled his starters with 63 seconds left and the Tar Heels up big. Hansbrough walked right to Williams and greeted him with a bear hug before joining his celebrating teammates down the bench. Lawson and Ellington followed, their final moment in a championship run a year in the making.