University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Radford
Bulldogs Win Seventh Straight by Downing Radford 92-84
01.31.2010 | Men's Basketball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Matt Dickey tied a career-high with 26 points as UNC Asheville won its seventh straight game by knocking off defending Big South Conference champion Radford, 92-84 at Justice Center Sunday afternoon.
Dickey had plenty of help as the Bulldogs (10-12, 7-4 BSC) moved into a three-way tie for second place in the league standings and ended a five-game losing streak to the Highlanders.
Freshman forward Jaron Lane came off the bench to score a career-high 17 points and collect a career-best eight rebounds. J.P. Primm had 15 points and eight assists. John Williams just missed a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds. He blocked five shots and is now tied for the career lead in blocked shots at Asheville with 190. Chris Stephenson finished with 12 points.
Radford (11-10, 7-4 BSC) had five players in double figures. Amir Johnson had 18 points and six assists. Lazar Trifunovic finished with 16 points. Blake Smith chipped in 15 points, while Joey Lynch-Florh and Art Parakhouski added 12 points each. Parakhouski pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds. Lynch-Florh had 11 rebounds.
The seven-game win streak matches the Bulldogs' seven-game streak that came during the 2007-08 season.
Asheville led for most of the way and built an 11-point lead early in the second half on a dunk from Primm.
The Highlanders rallied as they went to the free throw line and scored on second shots. A A trey from Johnson got Radford to 53-51 with 8:40 remaining.
The Bulldogs had struggled on offense for much of the season began to click again as each team exchanged baskets over the next three minutes.
Leading 60-57 at the six-minute mark, the Bulldogs got two free throws from Dickey and a long trey from Sean Smith to push the margin to 65-57. Smith hit another three-pointer at the four-minute mark to give Asheville a 71-61 lead.
The Highlanders kept battling but could get no closer than six the rest of the game. Asheville went 26-of-32 from the free throw line in the second half to hold off the Highlanders.
Asheville shot 54 percent (28-of-52) from the field for the game, 45 percent from the three-point line (9-of-20) and 79 percent from the charity stripe (27-of-34).
In the first half, the Bulldogs took the lead for good with an 11-1 run midway through the opening half. Tied at 9-9, Asheville got six points from Lane to help the home team spring to a 20-10 lead. Dickey had 11 points in the opening half as the Bulldogs led 37-28 at halftime.
UNC Asheville heads to Charleston Southern on Thursday night for a 7:30 battle with the Buccaneers. Radford travels to VMI on Tuesday night at 7 p.m.
