University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Winthrop
Bulldogs Lose in Overtime at Winthrop, 68-65
02.24.2010 | Men's Basketball
The Bulldogs battled back from a 12-point first-half deficit to lead by six late in the game only to see the Eagles hit two three-pointers in the final minute of play to tie the game.
Asheville (13-15, 10-7 BSC) was led by Matt Dickey's 17 points. Jaron Lane added 13 points, while freshman center D.J. Cunningham had 10 points and nine rebounds.
Winthrop (16-11, 12-4 BSC) was led by Charles Corbin's 19 points and 15 rebounds. He also blocked two shots. Reggie Middleton finished with 13 points and six assists.
"This is a tough, tough loss," stated Bulldog coach Eddie Biedenbach. "It was a great basketball game and we battled hard but in the end we gave up too many offensive rebounds and had too many turnovers to beat a good team like Winthrop on the road."
The Eagles led 66-63 in overtime when Lane hit two free throws at the one-minute mark to cut the lead to 66-65. Asheville got a stop and played for the win. The Bulldogs took a timeout and then got the ball to Dickey. He drove the baseline but his shot was blocked by Corbin and Winthrop got the rebound. Corbin hit two free throws to seal the win.
"We tried to get the ball inside to John Williams but couldn't get it there," said Biedenbach. "Matt did a nice job driving the baseline but just couldn't get the shot to go in."
A jumper from John Williams put Asheville in front 54-48 with 3:40 left in regulation. The Eagles then got a three-point play from Reggie Middleton to narrow the lead to 54-51 at the 1:58 mark. After a stop, Matt Morgan hit his first field goal of the night on a long three-pointer to knot the game at 54-54 at 1:14.
The Bulldogs then regained the lead at the 21-second mark when Dickey sank a three-point to give Asheville a 57-54 lead.
Winthrop then tied the game at the 10-second mark when Gideon Gamble hit a three-pointer to make it 57-57.
The Bulldogs tried to get the win but couldn't get a shot off when J.P. Primm was whistled for an offensive foul with three seconds left in regulation.
The first half had each team make two significant runs. Winthrop went on an early 7-0 run to grab a 10-4 lead. The Bulldogs responded with a 9-0 run over a three-minute stretch to leap to a 13-10 lead. Dickey led the run with five points.
The Eagles quickly responded with a 15-1 run over a six-minute stretch to take a 25-14 lead. Asheville hurt itself with six turnovers during the run. Five different Winthrop players scored during the Eagle run. The Bulldogs got into serious foul trouble as J.P. Primm, John Williams and D.J. Cunningham went to the bench with two fouls each.
But just when it looked liked Asheville was going to get blown out, the Bulldogs responded thanks to reserve forwards Quinard Jackson and Eric Stubbs. The duo combined for eight points as Asheville crept to 33-31 at halftime.
Corbin led Winthrop with 11 points in the opening half, while Dickey finished with eight points. The Bulldogs made 11 first-half turnovers that resulted in eight Winthrop points.
The Bulldogs finished with 21 turnovers on the night, compared to just nine for Winthrop. Williams blocked three shots in the game to give him 200 for his career. He is just the fifth player in Big South history to amass 200 blocked shots.
Asheville out-rebounded Winthrop by a 45-44 count. However, the Eagles pulled down 21 offensive rebounds to just nine for the Dogs.
UNC Asheville finishes the regular-season with a game against Gardner-Webb on Saturday afternoon at 4:30 p.m.
