Men's Basketball Stuns Furman on the Road, 75-67 - UNC Asheville Bulldogs Official Athletics Site

Dec. 2, 2006

GREENVILLE, S.C. - Vincent James scored a career-high 22 points to lead UNC Asheville to a stunning 75-67 road win over Furman Saturday afternoon at Timmons Arena.

The Bulldogs (3-4) trailed by 11 in the first half and by seven early in the second half before roaring back to win their first road game of the season. The Paladins (4-3) had won at Vanderbilt on Tuesday night, 70-62.

"I'm really proud of our guys for battling back like they did today to beat a very good Furman team," said UNC Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach. "We did a good job late in the first half of battling and scrapping back to get within in five. Our defense was superb down the stretch."

Bryan Smithson added 13 points for the Bulldogs, 11 in the second half. K.J. Garland contributed 10 points and tied a career high with eight assists.

Furman was led by Eric Webb with 18 points. He was 5-of-9 from the three-point line but missed his last three trey attempts.

The Bulldogs trailed most of the game and trailed 62-59 with six minutes left when Asheville went on a 9-0 run to take the lead for good. James tied it with a three-point play at 62-62. He then gave the Bulldogs their first lead of the game on a jumper in the lane at 64-62 at the 5:35 mark.

Brett Warner tapped in a missed Asheville shot to push the lead to 66-62. Smithson scored on a lay-up to increase the lead to 68-62 at 2:20.

Furman got a jumper from Gerald Punch to cut margin to 68-64 at the two-minute mark.

The Paladins had three chances to cut into the Asheville lead but the Bulldogs were able to get some big stops. Smithson ended the drought by hitting one-of-two free throws to make it 69-64 at the 42-second mark. The Bulldogs sealed the win by hitting their next four free throws.

UNC Asheville's defense limited the Paladins to 30 percent shooting (10-of-33) from the field in the second half. Furman shot 33 percent (22-of-67) for the game from the field. The Paladins missed 11 of their last 13 shots from the field.

"Our 1-3-1 zone worked pretty well in the second half," said Biedebach. "We did a better job of finding their shooters and getting a hand in their face."

Furman controlled the first half as Webb scored nine points and Punch added seven. The Paladins built the lead to 26-15 on two free throws from Moussa Diagne at the 7:15 mark.

Asheville trailed 34-25 late in the half before making a late run thanks to Reid Augst and James. Augst and James had back-to-back three-point plays. Augst then hit a trey as the first-half buzzer sounded to allow the Bulldog to close to 39-34 at halftime.

"The run we made at the end of the first half was so important," said Biedenbach. "It got us back in the game and gave us some confidence."

James was 10-of-15 from the field. Garland also had six rebounds and three steals. The Bulldogs shot 57 percent (16-of-28) from the field in the second half.

UNC Asheville is on the road again Monday night when the Bulldogs play at Charlotte at Halton Arena starting at 8:30 p.m.