University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Louisville
Louisville Holds Off UNC Asheville, 66-51 - UNC Asheville Bulldogs Official Athletics Site
01.01.1970 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 30, 2006
LOUISVILLE, KY. - Louisville opened the game with a 22-4 run and then held off several UNC Asheville challenges as the Cardinals defeated the Bulldogs, 66-51 before a sellout crowd of 17,408 at Freedom Hall Saturday afternoon.
UNC Asheville (4-10) was led by Bryan Smithson with a game-high 16 points. The junior guard went 9-of-9 from the free throw line and added five assists and three steals. K.J. Garland finished with 10 points and four assists.
Freshman guard Donovan Jones added eight points. Joey Harrell contributed eight points and seven rebounds.
The Bulldogs struggled from the field all day long as they shot just 30 percent (14-of-46). However, Asheville shot a season-high 54 percent (6-of-11) from beyond the arc. The Dogs battled the Cards just about even on the boards as the home team had a slight 34-33 edge.
"We really battled today and I was proud of the way we fought the entire game," stated Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach. "We just didn't shoot the ball very well to have a chance to beat a team the caliber of Louisville. I was very proud of our effort and hopefully we can build on this now that conference play begins."
"Give Asheville credit, they hung in there the whole way against us," said Louisville coach Rick Pitino. "We got off to a great start but they just wouldn't let us run away."
Louisville's defense suffocated the Bulldogs early in the game. The Dogs trailed 6-4 after a dunk from Kenny George at the four-minute mark but the Cardinals went on a 16-0 run to race to a 22-4 lead. Asheville was just 1-of-15 from the field in the first 10 minutes of the game.
But slowly the Bulldogs rallied. Harrell hit a trey to get a 7-0 run to close to 24-12 and he sank another long three-pointer to get Asheville to within 29-22 with 1:17 to go in the half. Louisville settled for a 31-22 halftime lead.
The teams exchanged baskets for much of the first five minutes of the second half and when Pitino was whistled for a technical foul at the 14:38 mark, Smithson hit two free throws to cut the lead to 38-29. Asheville had four chances to get closer but came up empty each time down the floor.
The Cardinals responded by going on a 10-2 run to push the lead to 48-31 on a trey from Jerry Smith. But again the Bulldogs responded by going on a 7-0 run to whittle the lead to 48-38 on a three-pointer from Jones.
However, Asheville could get no closer than 10 the rest of the way as Louisville hit some big shots down the stretch to hold on for the victory.
"We got off to a tough start but Louisville had a lot to do with it," explained Biedenbach. "We worked hard to get back in the game but just didn't hit enough shots to make it closer."
The crowd of 17,408 was the seventh largest to see the Bulldogs play.
Asheville opens Big South Conference play against Liberty next Saturday (Jan. 6) afternoon starting at 4:30 p.m.
