University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Montreat
Men's Basketball Rolls Past Montreat, 94-64
12.31.2007 | Men's Basketball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. ? Kenny George scored 16 points to pace a balanced UNC Asheville attack as the Bulldogs rolled past NAIA neighbor Montreat 94-64 at Justice Center Monday night.
UNC Asheville improved to 10-3 and is off to its best start to a season in 23 years. The Bulldogs led 36-29 at halftime but outscored the Cavaliers 58-35 in the second period to earn their second straight win.
Montreat (5-8) was led by Kinnard Bennett with 14 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Matthew Rushing finished with 13 points and three blocked shots.
“Montreat is a well-coached team that gave us fits in the first half,” stated UNC Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach. “We played much better in the second half and I thought our depth wore them out a little bit. Overall, we were able to get the ball inside and get good shots in the second half. We were able to play a lot of people tonight and that's always good.”
The Bulldogs responded with eight quick points to build the lead to 34-24 as Augst scored on a lay-up and back-to-back treys from Sean Smith and James got
Montreat came right back with five quick points to narrow the margin to 34-29 before George scored on a dunk to give the Bulldogs a 36-29 halftime lead.
Asheville took charge early in the second half as it went on a 16-2 run to build a 52-34 lead. James and George combined for 12 points in the run.
Montreat rallied to get to 58-44 on a three-pointer from Aaron Collazo but the Bulldogs responded with 12 straight points to push the lead to 70-44. Five different players for
The taller Bulldogs had 56-35 rebounding advantage and posted 15 blocked shots on the day.
NOTES ? The win was UNC Asheville's 14th in the last 18 games dating back to last year...Asheville had a season-high 25 assists...Garland has 410 career assists and is just 20 behind Josh Kohn for second place on UNC Asheville's career assist list...six different Bulldogs grabbed at least six rebounds in the game...UNC Asheville shot above 50 percent from the field for the ninth time this season...George has 109 career blocked shots...Bryan Smithson has scored in double figures in nine of 10 games he has played in this season...the Bulldogs have 118 blocked shots on the year and could break the school record of 142 that was set last year sometime in January...Asheville is 8-1 at home this year.
