University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics

Wednesday, December 3
Knoxville, Tenn.
7 p.m.

UNC Asheville

69
at
87

Tennessee

Bulldogs Battle But Fall at #10 Tennessee, 87-69

Bulldogs Battle But Fall at #10 Tennessee, 87-69

12.03.2008 | Men's Basketball

KNOXVILLE, TN. ? UNC Asheville battled #10 Tennessee for 40 minutes but the Volunteers got the first triple-double in school history from Tyler Smith to record an 87-69 win over the Bulldogs Wednesday night at Thompson-Boling Arena.

The Bulldogs (3-4) were led by Reid Augst and John Williams with 14 points each. Jason Ridenhour contributed 10 points.

Smith scored 12 points, dished out 10 assists and pulled down 10 rebounds.  Tennessee improved to 6-1 on the season as Volunteer coach Bruce Pearl earned his 400th career win.

 “We battled hard tonight and competed,” stated UNC Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach. “"We're a little small, but we're scrappy," Bulldogs "I wasn't disappointed with our effort. I'm just disappointed we're not playing better.

“We're marking progress though,” added Biedenbach. “We have to learn to compete at a higher level and when you're young like we are that's not easy.”

The Bulldogs battled in the first half and trailed 18-16 midway through the half. Tennessee struggled with its outside shooting in the opening half before going inside and drawing fouls on the Bulldogs.  The Volunteers got 10 points from Smith and went 14-of-18 from the free throw line in the opening half to lead 43-27 at halftime.

Asheville trailed 45-31 early in the second half before the Volunteers went on a 9-2 run to sprint to a 52-33 lead. UT led by as many as 26 before the Bulldogs rallied in the final minutes.

Tennessee dominated the backboards 53-35 and had 20 offensive rebounds.

The Bulldogs did a much better job taking care of the basketball against Tennessee's full-court press. Asheville had just 10 turnovers against the Vols after making 25 at North Carolina on Sunday.

“We improved from Sunday night at North Carolina but we can be better,” Biedenbach said.

UNC Asheville hosts Big South Conference rival VMI at Justice Center Saturday afternoon at Justice Center starting at 4:30 p.

 

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