Bulldogs Down Coastal Carolina, 78-72

ASHEVILLE, N.C. ? K.J. Garland and Kenny George scored 18 points each as UNC Asheville remained alive for a Big South Conference regular-season title as the Bulldogs held off a determined effort by Coastal Carolina, 78-72 before a sell-out crowd of 1,158 at Justice Center Wednesday night.

UNC Asheville won, despite a brilliant performance from senior CCU guard Jack Leasure. The Rochester, N.Y. native finished with a game-high 27 points as he went 9-of-15 from the three-point line. Leasure became the Big South Conference's all-time leader in three-pointers made. He now has 405, surpassing Radford's Doug Day who had 401 (1989-93).

The win by the Bulldogs (20-8, 9-4 BSC) sets up a first-place showdown at defending Big South Conference champion Winthrop Saturday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. The Eagles are 10-3 in league play on the season. Asheville needs a victory over Winthrop to get the top seed in next week's Advance Auto Parts Big South Conference Tournament.

The victory by the Bulldogs gave them their 20^th win of the season. It's the first time the Asheville program has recorded 20 wins since the 1985-86 season.

The Bulldogs also had freshman forward John Williams in double figures with 12 points, while Bryan Smithson added 11. Garland had six assists and six rebounds. George missed his first shot of the game and then made his last nine field goal attempts as he finished 9-of-10 from the field.

Coastal Carolina (13-13, 6-7 BSC) had Mario Sisinni with 14 points. The Chanticleers went 16-of-32 from beyond the arc for 50 percent.

“We played hard for 40 minutes, and needed to, with the way Coastal Carolina played us,” commented UNC Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach. “Jack Leasure was amazing tonight because we had a hand in his face most of the night and he still made shots. He's a great player.

“However, we got the job done,” added Biedenbach. “We got stops down the stretch when we absolutely had to have them and did a good job making our free throws in the final minutes.”

The Bulldogs led for most of the game and built a 15-point lead at the 9:40 mark on a jumper from George to lead 62-47.

The Chanticleers used their three-point shooting to battle back. Asheville led 72-60 with five minutes left before CCU hit three treys to get within 72-69. Steven Sexton hit a trey to narrow the lead to 72-63 and Leasure hit two long three-pointers, the second with 2:23 left to make it 72-69.

After the Bulldogs missed the front end of a one-and-one, Coastal Carolina had a chance to tie but Chad Ferguson's three-point attempt was long and Asheville got the rebound.

Reid Augst hit two free throws to pad the lead to 74-69.

Leasure finally missed with 42 seconds left and Asheville rebounded. The Bulldogs went 4-of-4 from the free throw line in the final 30 seconds to seal the victory.

In the first half, UNC Asheville shot a sizzling 60 percent (20-of-33) from the field and got 14 points from George to race to a 45-35 halftime lead. The Bulldogs dominated inside as they outscored the Chanticleers, 30-4 in the paint. However, CCU went 8-of-13 from beyond the arc and got four treys from Leasure to be within striking distance.

Coastal Carolina finishes the regular season at Charleston Southern on Saturday.

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Players Mentioned

Reid Augst

K.J. Garland

Kenny George

Bryan Smithson

John Williams

University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics