ASHEVILLE, N.C. ? Reid Augst scored 20 points to rally UNC Asheville to a 61-59 Big South Conference victory over High Point Tuesday night at Justice Center.
The victory gave Bulldog head coach Eddie Biedenbach his 100th Big South Conference victory. Biedenbach is 100-74 in league play during his 13-year career at UNC Asheville.
The Bulldogs (8-9, 4-2 BSC) rallied from a seven-point deficit with 3:52 left to earn their fourth victory in the last five games.
Freshman guard Matt Dickey came off the bench for Asheville to score 15 points, while John Williams had 14 points, 10 in the second half.
The tough-luck Panthers (5-11, 1-5 BSC) were led by Nick Barbour with 19 points. He was 4-of-6 from beyond the arc and a perfect 5-of-5 from the free throw line. Jourdan Morris finished with 13 points and six rebounds.
“High Point really gave us fits all night, but we found a way to win against a good team,” commented Biedenbach. “I'm proud of our guys for battling and grinding it out. We hurt ourselves with turnovers and missed free throws, but still got the job done.”
Trailing 55-48 with 3:52 left, the Bulldogs got buckets from Augst and Dickey to narrow the lead to 55-52. A free throw from Augst made it 55-53 at the 2:36 mark.
Eugene Harris hit two free throws to push the Panther lead to 57-53, but freshman guard J.P. Primm nailed a long three-pointer for Asheville to cut the lead to 57-56.
Williams gave the Bulldogs the lead at 58-57 when he followed up a missed shot with a dunk at 1:21.
The Panthers regained the lead on a tap-in from Morris at the 32-second mark. Augst began a drive to the lane but was fouled with 23 seconds remaining. The senior forward hit both free throws for a 60-59 lead.
Williams then blocked a High Point shot at the 10-second mark and got the ball to Primm, who was fouled with 9.4 seconds left. He made 1-of-2 free throws to give Asheville a 61-59 lead.
The Panthers got the ball to Harris, who was open for a three-pointer as the buzzer sounded, but his shot fell short and the Bulldogs escaped with the win.
High Point controlled the first half thanks to great defense and hot shooting from Barbour. The Panthers limited the Bulldogs to just 11 points in the first 11 minutes and built a 21-11 lead at the nine-minute mark. Barbour hit back-to-back treys to help get the lead to 10.
Asheville began to claw back behind the play of Augst. He scored seven of his 10 first-half points in the final five minutes to get the Bulldogs within 29-27 at halftime.
High Point shot 50 percent in the opening half as it was 11-of-22 from the field. Barbour had 13 points. The Panthers out-rebounded the home team 18-11 and limited Asheville to just 33 percent shooting (8-of-24) from the field.
UNC Asheville begins a two-game road trip in South Carolina this Saturday night at Winthrop with tip-off at 8 p.m.High Point hosts Radford Saturday night at 7 p.m.
NOTES - Augst has scored at least 20 points in four of Asheville's six league games...the Bulldogs have won 23 of their last 27 home games...Matt Dickey grabbed a career-high seven rebounds...Williams was 6-of-8 from the field and all six field goals were dunks.
