Men's Basketball Downs Furman, 78-75

ASHEVILLE, N.C. ? Bryan Smithson scored 24 points as UNC Asheville held off Furman 78-75 in the season opening game for both teams Friday night before a packed crowd of 1,123 at Justice Center.

The Bulldogs (1-0) won their season-opener for the second straight year but it wasn't easy against a young Paladin team that almost fought back from an 11-point deficit with four minutes remaining.

Smithson went 8-of-13 from the field, 5-of-6 from the three-point line and 3-of-3 from the charity stripe. He was joined in double figures by senior guard K.J. Garland who had 19 points and seven assists. Kenny George came off the bench to score 12 points, grab seven rebounds and block five shots.

Furman (0-1) was led by Justin Dehm with 17 points as he went 3-of-6 from beyond the arc. George Bronzos contributed 13 points, while Bobby Austin added 10 points.

“We played well enough to win but you have to give Furman a lot of credit for hanging in there like it did,” commented UNC Asheville head coach Eddie Biedenbach. “They (Furman) have a talented group of freshmen who play very hard and almost came back and sent the game to overtime.

“We did a good job in a lot of areas tonight but we just didn't finish the game as well as I would have liked,” added Biedenbach. “We played hard for 40 minutes and our crowd was just terrific as they gave us a lot of energy. Our guys will get better and this game was a first step.”

The Bulldogs led 73-62 after two free throws by George with 3:51 left when the Paladins made their final charge. Furman got back-to-back treys from Dehm and Alex Opacic t o cut the lead to 75-71 with 2:15 left.

George hit two more free throws to narrow pad the lead to 77-71 with 1:54 remaining. After the teams exchanged turnovers, Dehn knocked down two free throws at the 1:03 mark to carve the lead to 77-73. He hit a lay-up at the 24-second mark to make it 77-75.

Garland hit one free throw at the 23-second mark to push the lead to 78-75 setting up a frantic finish. The Paladins got a three-point attempt from Jordan Miller at the 17-second mark that missed. A wild scramble for the ball saw eight seconds go off the clock before Dehm dove on the floor and got the ball and called timeout.

With nine seconds left, Furman came out of the time-out and got the ball to Opacic but his 25-footer rimmed out and the Bulldogs claimed the rebound to earn the victory.

UNC Asheville took the lead for good midway through the first half when the Bulldogs went on an 11-4 run to lead 20-14. Smithson keyed the run with seven points. The Dogs led by 10 three times in the opening half before the Paladins close to 35-29 at halftime. Brozos led the Furman effort with nine points in the opening half, while Garland scored 11 points in the first half.

In the second half, the Bulldogs built the lead to 50-39 on a trey from Sean Smith at the 14-minute mark but the Paladins got treys on four straight possessions to narrow the lead to 55-51.

Asheville steadily built the lead back to 68-56 on another trey from Smith with seven minutes left only to see Furman make another comeback down the stretch.

UNC Asheville hosts Lees-McRae College Sunday afternoon at 4:30 p.m., while Furman visits ACC foe Clemson Monday night at 7:30 p.m.

NOTES ? UNC Asheville won for the fifth time in the last six games dating back to last season and it marked the second straight year the Bulldogs have won their opening game...UNC Asheville blocked 10 shots as George blocked five and freshman John Williams blocked four...Garland had seven assists and now has 336 in his career and needs just eight to move into fifth place on the school's career list past Jeff Lippard (343)...Asheville shot 51 percent (26-of-51) from the field and 53 percent (9-of-17) from beyond the arc...Furman was 15-of-16 from the charity stripe for 94 percent...the Paladins had just four turnovers in the second half after committing nine in the opening half.

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Players Mentioned

K.J. Garland

Kenny George

Sean Smith

Bryan Smithson

John Williams

University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics