Men's Basketball Hosts Lees-McRae Sunday Afternoon

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - The UNC Asheville men's basketball team is looking to be 2-0 in a season for the first time since the 1989-90 season as the Bulldogs host Lees-McRae on Sunday afternoon starting at 4:30 p.m.

Asheville opened the season Friday night with a hard-fought 78-75 victory over Furman at Justice Center. The Bulldogs led for most of the game but had to hold off a Paladin charge in the final four minutes. This will be the first regular-season meeting between UNC Asheville and Lees-McRae as the teams did play an exhibition game last year at Justice Center with the Bulldogs winning, 71-50.

The game will be broadcast on WISE Radio (1310-AM) and can be seen via video-streaming for a small fee at www.uncabulldogs.com.

UNC Asheville Head Coach Eddie Biedenbach was pretty pleased to open the season with a win against a tough Furman squad but knows his club can better.

“We did a lot of good things against Furman,” stated Biedenbach. “However, there is much that we improve on from Friday night. We made it a lot tougher on ourselves than we needed to make it but in the end we found a way to win and you can always build on that.”

The Bulldogs were led by their senior guards on Friday night. Bryan Smithson tallied a game-high 24 points, while K.J. Garland pumped in 19 points. 7-7 center Kenny George did a nice job off the bench for Asheville with 12 points, seven rebounds and five blocked shots. He went 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the final four minutes to help the Bulldogs hold on for the win.

Asheville turns its attention to Lees-McRae on Sunday. The Bobcats went 6-22 last year but should be much better this season. They are members of the Carolinas Conference which was formerly known as the Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference. LMC is in a tough league as conference champ Barton captured the NCAA Division II national championship last season. This will be the first game of the season for the Bobcats. Scott Polsgrove is in his second year as head coach at Lees-McRae.

“We don't know a whole about Lees-McRae but they played us pretty tough in our exhibition game last season,” declared Biedenbach. “They were a well-coached team that played pretty good defense.

“We need to play well on Sunday,” added Biedenbach. “It won't be easy because it's our second game in three days but this is what we will hopefully go through come conference tournament time.”

UNC Asheville's busy schedule continues on Tuesday night when the Bulldogs welcome Brevard College to Justice Center for a 7 p.m. tip-off.

NOTING THE BULLDOGS: UNC Asheville's win over Furman was the Bulldogs second straight season-opening win...Asheville has won five of its last six games dating back to last season...the Bulldogs shot 51 percent from the field and 53 percent from the three-point line on Friday.

University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics

Men's Basketball Hosts Lees-McRae Sunday Afternoon

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