University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Catawba
Bulldogs Down Catawba 94-81 Behind Cunningham's Double-Double
12.15.2009 | Men's Basketball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - D.J. Cunningham scored a career-high 21 points and grabbed a career-best 12 rebounds as UNC Asheville downed Catawba 94-81 Tuesday night at Justice Center.
Cunningham scored all of his points in the second half as he went 10-of-12 from the field to help the Bulldogs pick up their third straight win. Asheville improved to 3-6.
The Indians (5-4) were led by Dominick Reid's game-high 23 points. The junior guard went 9-of-12 from the field. Antonio Houston finished with 15 points, while Rob Fields contributed 13 points.
The Bulldogs shot a season-high 59 percent (37-of-63) from the field as junior forward John Williams finished with 19 points and seven rebounds. He blocked four shots. Chris Stephenson added 14 points, while Matt Dickey and Eric Stubbs finished with 11 points each. Junior guard J.P. Primm had a season-high 11 assists. Freshman guard Jaron Lane had eight points and four assists.
"We did a nice job rallying in the second half to beat a well-coached Catawba squad," commented Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach. "Our defense needs to get better as we gave up way too many points, and our turnovers in the first half got them back in the game.
"However, we were down six early in the second half to a good team and instead of panicking we got the ball inside to D.J. Cunningham and John Williams," added Biedenbach. "We played with some maturity down the stretch, and I'm very pleased to win this game. Catawba will win a lot of games this year."
Houston hit a long three-pointer to put Catawba in front 61-57 with 11 minutes left when the Bulldogs began to rally. Asheville went on a 12-2 run to take the lead for good at 69-63 as freshman Jaron Lane completed the run with two free throws. Cunningham sparked most of the run with eight points on four baskets. Three of the baskets came on dunks.
Catawba was within 85-79 with 2:30 left on a lay-up from Reid. The Bulldogs got back-to-back dunks from Stephenson and Cunningham to get the lead to 10 at 89-79 at the two-minute mark. The Indians could get no closer.
The Bulldogs controlled most of the first half and used red-hot shooting to race to a 14-point lead at 38-24 at the 6:42 mark on a lay-up from Lane.
However, Asheville went ice cold in the final six minutes and the Indians took advantage of Bulldog foul trouble to inch back in the game. Catawba went 15-of-18 from the charity stripe in the opening half and a bucket from Reid with five seconds to go in the half gave the Indians a 43-42 halftime lead.
Asheville trailed despite shooting 55 percent from the field (17-of-31) but was undone by 12 turnovers that led 14 Catawba points. Williams led all scorers with 13 points as he was a perfect 5-of-5 from the field.
UNC Asheville plays again on Friday evening when it hosts Bluefield (Va.) at Justice Center starting at 7 p.m.
NOTES - D.J. Cunningham's double-double was the first by a Bulldog this year...John Williams blocked four more shots to give him a career total of 149...Williams is 13-of-15 from the field in the past two games...J.P. Primm grabbed a career-high eight rebounds...Asheville had a season-high 30 assists.
