Men's Basketball Rallies Past Gardner-Webb 87-78 in Overtime

ASHEVILLE, N.C. ? Reid Augst scored 28 points as UNC Asheville out-scored Gardner-Webb 17-8 in overtime as the Bulldogs downed visiting Gardner-Webb 87-78 in Big South Conference action Wednesday night.

The victory was UNC Asheville's (12-13, 8-6 BSC) third straight as the Bulldogs overcame a 13-point first-half deficit. The Runnin Bulldogs (11-13, 7-7 BSC) were led by Aaron Linn with 20 points, while C.J. Hailey added 15 points.

Augst had help on the evening for Asheville. Freshman guard Matt Dickey scored 17 points. John Williams finished with a double-double at 14 points and 11 rebounds. Freshman guard J.P. Primm had 13 points, including nine in overtime. He also had six assists.

The visitors had Joshua Moore with 14 points. Nate Blank finished with 10 points. Joshua Henley led the GWU rebounding effort with 14 rebounds. He also had six assists. The Runnin' Bulldogs did not have the services of leading scorer Grayson Flittner who is out with an injury.

“This was a great win,” commented UNC Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach. “I'm really proud of our guys for battling and finding a way to beat a good Gardner-Webb team tonight. We would have liked to have won the game in regulation but got the job done in overtime.”

Augst hit back-to-back shots to put the Bulldogs in front 70-66 late in regulation but Gardner-Webb got buckets from Linn and Auryn McMillian to tie the game at 70-70.

Asheville had the ball with 30 seconds left and played for the last shot. Williams' 15-footer rimmed out. Augst got the rebound as his shot was short as the buzzer sounded sending the game into overtime.

The Bulldogs quickly took charge in overtime. Primm hit a long three-pointer to give Asheville the lead for good at 73-70. Dickey hit a free throw, missed the second free throw but got the rebound and scored to give the Dogs a 76-70 margin. Primm hit a jumper and two foul shots over the next minute of play to push the Asheville lead to 80-70. The Bulldogs pushed the lead to 12 before settling for the nine-point win.

Asheville was 3-of-6 from the field and 10-of-14 from the free throw line in overtime. Gardner-Webb shot 21 percent (3-of-14) from the field and missed three free throws in the extra session.

The visitors dominated the first 10 minutes of the game. Gardner-Webb went on a 14-2 run to sprint to a 24-11 lead. Moore had eight points during the run, including two treys. Linn's jumper in the lane at the 10:58 mark gave the visitors a 13-point lead.

Asheville rallied in the final 10 minutes of the half and out-scored Gardner-Webb 17-9 to cut the lead to 33-28 at halftime. Dickey had eight points in the final eight minutes of the opening half to lead the comeback.

Augst had just two points in the first half but he came out strong in the second half. The senior forward tallied 25 points in the second half to lead an Asheville comeback that had the Bulldogs in front 70-66 before the Runnin' Bulldogs rallied in the final minute to send the game into overtime.

Asheville hosts Big South co-leader Radford Saturday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. Gardner-Webb entertains High Point on Saturday at 2 p.m.

NOTES ? UNC Asheville is 26-5 at home over the last two years...John Williams blocked three shots and has 101 in his career and he became the 24^th player in Big South history to record 100 block shots...Williams' 101 blocks put him in sixth place on UNC Asheville's career list...it was Williams third double-double of the season and fourth of his career.

Men's Basketball Rallies Past Gardner-Webb 87-78 in Overtime

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Players Mentioned

Reid Augst

Matt Dickey

J.P. Primm

John Williams

University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics

Men's Basketball Rallies Past Gardner-Webb 87-78 in Overtime

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Players Mentioned

Reid Augst

Matt Dickey

J.P. Primm

John Williams

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