ASHEVILLE, N.C. ? The UNC Asheville men's basketball team hopes to continue to make history in the early part of the season when the Bulldogs host defending Atlantic Sun champion East Tennessee State Saturday afternoon at Justice Center starting at 4:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on UNC Asheville's website ? www.uncabulldogs.com.
The Bulldogs are off to a 5-0 start for the first time in school history after an 83-73 win at Western Carolina Tuesday night. Asheville had three players score 20 points or more for the first time in three seasons during the win. Vincent James tied a career-high with 22 points, while K.J. Garland and Reid Augst added 20 points each. It was a career-high in points for Augst, who went 6-of-8 from the field and a perfect 7-of-7 from the free throw line. Garland just missed a triple-double with nine assists and eight rebounds. The senior guard also became the 23rd player in school history to score 1,000 career points when he sank a free throw in the opening half.
Asheville would like to continue its winning ways but it will have its hands full with a very good East Tennessee State team coming to Justice Center. The Bucs are 1-2 on the year but lost a close 78-74 decision at Dayton to open the season and fell in overtime at Marshall, 84-83. They blew out Ohio Valley Conference champion Eastern Kentucky, 76-56 last Saturday. Preseason Atlantic Sun Player of the Year Courtney Pilgrim leads the Bucs with a 19.7 scoring average. Junior forward Kevin Tiggs lead the ETSU inside effort with a 15.0 scoring average. He is shooting 69 percent from the field and scored 26 points at Marshall Tuesday.
“We're off to a great start, and I'm really proud of the way our guys have come together in the first part of the season,” commented UNC Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach. “However, we're going to have our hands full with a very talented East Tennessee State team Saturday afternoon. ETSU is a club that can come at you in a lot of different directions. We've played well this year but we're going to have to play even better on Saturday.”
The Buccaneers have won the last four meetings between the teams, including last year's 73-65 decision in Johnson City. ETSU dominated last season's contest as it roared out to a 22-4 lead eight minutes into the game and led 44-22 at halftime. The Bucs led by many as 25 in the second half before the Bulldogs out-scored ETSU 15-1 in the final two minutes to make the final score sound a little better. Pilgrim led all scorers with 17 points as the Bucs forced Asheville into 25 turnovers.
NOTES ? UNC Asheville has won nine of its last 10 games dating back to last season...the Bulldogs lead the nation in blocked shots with 54 (10.8 average)...Kenny George was named Big South Co-Player of the Week on Tuesday after picking up the first triple-double in school history with 20 points, 12 rebounds and 10 blocked shots...George is shooting 73 percent (25-of-34) from the field and 85 percent (11-of-13) from the free throw line...Reid Augst has made 16 straight free throws and is shooting 95 from the line.
