Men's Basketball Set to Host Charleston Southern on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. ? The UNC Asheville men's basketball team begins a three-game homestand on Saturday when the Bulldogs host Charleston Southern at Justice Center starting at 4:30 p.m. The game can be seen via video-streaming for a small fee on The Edge at www.bigsouthsports.com.

UNC Asheville (10-13, 6-6 BSC) is coming off a dramatic 103-95 victory at Big South leader VMI Monday night. The Bulldogs had four players score more than 20 points in the game for the first time in school history. The win snapped a two-game losing streak and pushed Asheville into fifth place in the Big South Conference standings. The top four finishers in the league will host a Big South Conference Tournament quarterfinal game on March 3.

“Every game becomes more and more important as we head into the final few weeks of the season,” stated Bulldog coach Eddie Biedenbach. “We'd really like to host a first-round game, but we have a great deal of work to do to accomplish that starting with a tough game against Charleston Southern.”

The Buccaneers (7-14, 2-8 BSC) have had an up-and-down season but enter Saturday's game with victories in two of their last three games. Although they have had bad luck with injuries this season, the Bucs have been competitive in all of their games. Sophomore guard Jamarco Warren is averaging 18.1 points per game and has knocked down 74 three-pointers. Sophomore forward Omar Carter has posted three straight double-doubles and is averaging 12.8 points per game.

The Bulldogs won an earlier match-up with CSU back on Jan. 3 when they recorded a 76-65 road victory. Reid Augst led Asheville with 24 points that night.

“We played very well that night at Charleston Southern,” explained Biedenbach. “It will take that kind of effort to win on Saturday. Charleston Southern is a good team that has lost some close games and had some tough injuries. We better be ready to play on Saturday.”

Reid Augst is Asheville's top scorer with a 15.0 average. He enters the game with 989 career points and needs just 11 points to become the 24^th player in school history to score 1000 points. John Williams enjoyed a sensational game at VMI with his third double-double of the season as he scored a career-best 22 points and collected a career-high 15 rebounds. Williams has 97 career blocked shots and needs three to become the sixth player in school history to have 100 blocked shots. Williams is averaging 11.9 points per and tops the club in rebounding with a 6.7 mark. Freshman guard Matt Dickey had 22 points at VMI and is averaging 10 points per game.

NOTES ? UNC Asheville has won 24 of its last 29 home games...the Bulldogs have played 14 of their last 20 games away from home, but are in stretch where they will play four of their next five games at home...freshman guard J.P. Primm needs one more assist for 100...Sean Smith has scored in double figures in four of the last five games and scored 20 points or more in the last two games, including a career-best 28 at Liberty.