University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Western Carolina
Bulldogs Rally Past Western Carolina 81-78
12.31.2008 | Men's Basketball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. ? Reid Augst scored 18 points, while John Williams tallied 17 as UNC Asheville rallied past mountain rival Western Carolina 81-78 before a sell-out crowd of 1,121 at Justice Center Thursday afternoon.
The Bulldogs (5-8) trailed 41-31 at halftime but outscored the Catamounts 50-37 in the second half to pull out the victory. Williams and Augst led the comeback as they both scored 14 points in the second half.
The victory gave
UNC Asheville got 13 points off the bench from Sean Smith, while Eric Stubbs tied a career-high at 12 points. Stubbs was 4-of-6 from the field and a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe.
“We played a great second half both on offense and defense to beat a solid
The Catamounts trailed 79-75 after two free throws from Williams at the
The Cats rebounded a Bulldog miss and had a chance to take the lead but misfired on three shots.
The Catamounts were red-hot from the field and three-point line in the first half to race to a 41-31 halftime lead. Mutombo had 13 points in the opening half and Tim Magowan hit three 3-point attempts to give WCU the double-digit lead. The visitors were 17-of-30 from the field (57 percent) and 6-of-11 (55 percent) from beyond the arc.
The Cats went on 6-0 run to lead 60-54 as Waginer hit a long trey at the 11-minute mark. Once again the Bulldogs clawed back and took the lead on two free throws from Smith at with
There were three more lead changes until Williams scored on an acrobatic three-point play to give
The Bulldogs shot 67 percent (16-of-24) from the field in the second half.
UNC Asheville plays next at Big South Conference rival
NOTES ? John Williams blocked two shots and has 78 career blocked shots and that puts hit in seventh place on Asheville's all-time career list, one ahead of Dirk Lommerse (77)...the Bulldogs shot better than 50 percent (53) from the field for the second time this season...Asheville's 26 free throws and 35 attempts were both season-highs...the Bulldogs have won 22 of their last 26 home games at Justice Center.
