University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Furman
Furman Holds Off UNC Asheville, 69-67
11.16.2010 | Men's Basketball
The Paladins (2-0) built a 14-point lead in the first half and led by nine with 1:25 left before Asheville made a dramatic rally that fell just short.
Dickey was 7-of-14 from the field, 9-of-10 from the free throw line and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc to finish with 26 points for the third time in his career. J.P. Primm just missed a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds. He finished with five assists and four steals. D.J. Cunningham just missed a double-double with 15 points and eight rebounds.
Furman had four players in double figures led by Amu Saaka and Darryl Evans with 14 points each. The Paladins connected on 86 percent (25-of-29) of its free throws attempts, including 8-of-10 in the final two minutes to hold off the Asheville comeback.
"You can't keep coming from behind and expecting to win," stated Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach. "We battled and gave a good effort but just had too many turnovers and missed too many easy shots to beat a good team like Furman. I'm proud of our comeback but we just shouldn't have got that far behind."
The Bulldogs (1-1) started the game 1-of-13 from the field as they missed numerous inside shots in the first five minutes. Furman eventually built a lead of 14 at 25-11 at the eight-minute mark on a trey from Noah Stakes.
Asheville finally got some shots to go down and closed to 34-26 at halftime. The Bulldogs shot just 31 percent from the field (9-of-29) in the opening half.
The visitors got out of the gates quickly in the second half, going on an 8-2 run to close to 36-34.
But that would be theme of the second half as Asheville would get close but Furman would have an answer each time. The Paladins eventually had the lead up to 61-52 after two free throws from Evans at the 1:25 mark.
Asheville made one more push as it outscored Furman 15-8 in the final 85 seconds but a missed lay-up and a turnover stalled the Bulldog comeback.
"We did a good job in the second half rallying but when you're behind you have to play almost perfect. We gave up a couple of big offensive rebounds and missed some shots that we needed to make," commented Biedenbach. "Hopefully, we'll learn from this game."
The Bulldogs celebrate their home opener this Saturday afternoon against Virginia Intermont Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.
