ASHEVILLE, N.C. ? Bryan Smithson and Reid Augst scored 21 points each as UNC Asheville downed a stubborn Charleston Southern squad, 85-73 in Big South Conference action at a sold out Justice Center Saturday afternoon.
The win by the Bulldogs (19-8, 8-4 BSC) snapped a four-game losing streak and tied a Division I school record for most wins in a season with 19. Charleston Southern (9-18, 3-9 BSC) had a two-game winning streak snapped.
Asheville also got 15 points and three blocked shots from Kenny George. The junior center set a single-season record for blocked shots with 87, breaking the previous record of 86 set by C.J. Walker in the 2003-04 season. George went 7-of-10 from the field and was a perfect 6-of-6 in the second half. Vincent James added 11 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
The Buccaneers were led by senior guard Chris Moore with 18 points. Jamarco Warren finished with 17 points, while Tovi Bailey finished with a double-double at 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Augst finished 10-of-14 from the field and grabbed a career-best nine rebounds. Asheville shot 62 percent (34-of-55) from the field and it marked the 16th time this season the Bulldogs have shot at or better than 50 percent from the field.
“We really played well on offense today,” stated UNC Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach. “We played with a lot of energy and then did a nice job in the second half holding off several runs that Charleston Southern made at us.”
The Bulldogs led from start to finish as they only trailed 3-0 in the first 30 seconds of the game. Smithson was the story in the first half. He hit his first five three-point attempts and scored 19 points in the opening half as Asheville roared to a 44-30 halftime lead. Augst did a great job in the opening half with 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field. Asheville went 6-of-11 from beyond the arc.
In the second half, the Buccaneers began to warm up from the three-point line and carved the Asheville lead to five at 59-54 on a free throw from Omar Carter. CSU also got back-to-back three-pointers from Warren to help close the gap with 11 minutes remaining.
Asheville led 63-58 before going on a 9-0 run to push the lead to 72-58 as George scored his final field goal of the game on a finger roll from five feet out at the 5:27 mark to give the home team the 14-point lead. The Bulldogs built the lead to as big as 18 at 83-65 before setting for the final margin.
Asheville's defense limited the Buccaneers to 38 percent (26-of-69) shooting from the field.
The Bulldogs play at home Wednesday night when they host Coastal Carolina at Justice Center starting at 7 p.m. Charleston Southern heads to Big South Conference leader Winthrop Tuesday night at 7 p.m.
