University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Georgetown
Bulldogs Battle But Fall at Georgetown, 87-72
11.27.2010 | Men's Basketball
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Pre-season Big East Player of the Year Austin Freeman scored 32 points and tied a Georgetown school-record with seven 3-pointers as the #16 Hoyas held off UNC Asheville, 87-72 Saturday afternoon at the Verizon Center.
The Bulldogs (2-3) trailed by 25 points in the second half but closed to 12 points late in the game before Georgetown (6-0) hit some key buckets down the stretch to hold off Asheville. The Bulldogs out-scored the Hoyas 45-43 in the second half.
Asheville had four players in double figures. J.P. Primm finished with 17 points. Matt Dickey pumped in 15 points, while Chris Stephenson added 12 points. D.J. Cunningham, shook off first-half foul trouble, to score 10 points.
"Georgetown is a very, very good basketball team," commented UNC Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach. "We did a good job battling back in the second half and even the first half but you can't make some of the mistakes we made against a team like Georgetown and expect to win.
"Austin Freeman was sensational today. We let him have too many open shots but then there were times we guarded him pretty well and he still made the shots," explained Biedenbach.
Georgetown took control of the game in the first half when it held the Bulldogs scoreless for more than eight minutes as it went on a 23-0 run to race to a 30-7 lead. Freeman knocked down four treys during the run. Asheville missed eight shots during the run and had six turnovers.
The Bulldogs made a nice run in the final five minutes of the half as freshman guard Trent Meyer knocked down a long trey to close to 39-27. But the Hoyas got a lay-up from Freeman and a 3-pointer from Freeman to lead 44-27 at intermission.
"We made a good run late in the half but then let them get the final five points of the half which really negated some of our good work," said Biedenbach.
Freeman had 20 points in the first half. Asheville shot just 37 percent (10-of-27) from the field.
Georgetown got out of the gates quickly in the second half as it went on a 13-2 run to sprint to a 57-31 lead as Freeman hit another trey at the 17:07 mark.
The Bulldogs matched the Hoyas basket-for-basket before making a run midway through the second half. Asheville held Georgetown scoreless for more than four minutes and scored eight straight points to cut the lead to 70-57 with 5:40 left.
Primm hit a free throw to close to 73-61 at the 4:16 mark. But Georgetown went on a quick 7-0 run to get the lead back to 80-61. Asheville could get no closer than 14 the rest of the way.
Primm had 14 of his 17 points in the second half. Dickey had 13 of his points in the second half. Asheville had 10 steals in the game and forced 23 Hoya turnovers.
"We did a good job fighting back in the second half, but we were just too inconsistent," said Biedenbach. "You can't half scoreless stretches like we did in the first half and second half and expect to win. However, this is a game that will help us and make us better during the season."
Asheville is back in action Monday night at USC Upstate at 7 p.m.
BULLDOG NOTES
John Williams did not play with an injury suffered against UNC Chapel Hill on Tuesday...he could play against USC Upstate on Monday...the Bulldogs out-scored the Hoyas 45-43 in the second half and have now out-scored all five of their opponents this year...Cunningham hit his first career 3-pointer late in the game...the Bulldogs play three games on the road next week, starting at USC Upstate on Monday before opening BSC play at Radford (Dec. 2) and High Point (Dec. 4).
