Men's Basketball Hosts Coastal Carolina on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. ? The UNC Asheville men's basketball team plays its final regular season home game Saturday afternoon against Coastal Carolina at Justice Center starting at 4:30 p.m. The game will be video-streamed by The Edge at www.bigsouthsports.com.

Saturday's game will celebrate homecoming at UNC Asheville. In addition, senior forward Reid Augst will be honored prior to the game for his career with the Bulldogs.

UNC Asheville (13-14, 9-7 BSC) is coming off a thrilling 81-78 overtime victory at High Point Wednesday night. Wednesday' win was a big victory for the Bulldogs as it put them in position to clinch a home berth in the quarterfinals of the Big South Conference Tournament on March 3. One Asheville win in its final two games or a loss from Winthrop and Gardner-Webb would mean the Bulldogs are at home for the quarterfinals. Not bad for a team picked to finish in ninth place.

“We had a great win at High Point Wednesday night,” stated Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach. “However, there's not much time to enjoy it because we're going to have a tough game with Coastal Carolina on Saturday. We'll need to be ready to play from the start and match their intensity.

“We would obviously love to be at home for the first round of the Big South Tournament,” added Biedenbach. “Right now we're just worried about Coastal Carolina. We'll figure things out after Saturday's game.”

The Bulldogs have won four of their last five games with the only loss a 66-65 decision to league-leading Radford last Saturday. However, three of those wins have come in overtime.

“I'm proud of our guys for finding ways to grind it out and winning close games,” admitted Biedenbach. “We've lost some close games this year but managed to win more than we've lost. As young as we are, I think that's remarkable.”

Asheville should have its full with a dangerous Chanticleer (11-16, 5-10 BSC) squad that has seen its last seven games come down to a final possession. Coastal Carolina stunned VMI last weekend 100-97 before falling to Liberty 85-82 Monday night. The Chanticleers led from start to finish and defeated the Bulldogs 64-57 on Jan. 19 in Conway. Asheville trailed by 14 at halftime, rallied to tie the game but could never get the lead. Anthony Breeze led Coastal Carolina that night with 15 points and 15 rebounds. The Chants out-rebounded Asheville 43-34.

“We didn't play well in the first half at Coastal Carolina as they just out-hustled and out-scrapped us,” said Biedenbach. “We made a nice run in the second half but didn't get the job done when the game was on the line. We're going to have to play 40 minutes or maybe 45 against Coastal on Saturday. This is a tough game.”

Junior forward Joseph Harris leads Coastal Carolina with a 15.1 scoring average and 11.2 rebounding mark. He was named Big South Player of the Week on Monday as he scored 33 points and has 22 rebounds against VMI last Saturday.

The Bulldogs are led in scoring by Augst with a 15.3 average. John Williams scored a career-high 32 points in Asheville's win at High Point Wednesday. He also blocked five shots and gathered 10 rebounds. It was Williams' fourth double-double of the year and third in the last five games. He averages 13 points per game and leads the team in rebounding (6.9) and blocked shots (58).

NOTES: The Bulldogs have five players scoring in double figures in Big South Conference play, and they are Reid Augst (17.1), John Williams (14.6), Sean Smith (11.9), Matt Dickey (12.2) and J.P. Primm (10.4)...Asheville has had at least 21 assists in three of its last four games...Williams leads the Big South in field goal percentage (58%) during league games...the Bulldogs have been out-rebounded in 12 of their last 13 games but are 6-6 in those games...five of Asheville's last seven games have been decided in the final minute of play...the Bulldogs are 26-6 at Justice Center over the last two years.