University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Bulldogs Clinch Big South Tourney Home Game With 89-86 Win Over Gardner-Webb
02.27.2010 | Men's Basketball
The victory by Asheville (14-15, 11-7 BSC) makes them the fourth seed in next week's Big South Conference Tournament. The Bulldogs will host either High Point or Liberty Tuesday night at Justice Center starting at 7 p.m. The complete pairings for the tournament will be announced later tonight.
The win also makes Asheville head coach Eddie Biedenbach the winningest coach in league history. He now has 195 wins at Asheville in 14 years as head man of the Bulldogs. Biedenbach moves past former Winthrop coach Gregg Marshall with 194 wins.
The loss for a gutty Gardner-Webb (8-21, 5-13 BSC) squad ended its season. The Runnin' Bulldogs needed a win over Asheville and a VMI loss to be the eighth seed and earn a spot in the tournament. The Keydets lost at Coastal Carolina earlier in the day, 101-71 but Gardner-Webb came up just short.
The Bulldogs were led by Matt Dickey's 18 points and six assists. John Williams added 17 points, nine rebounds and five blocked shots. Chris Stephenson finished with 14 points, while Sean Smith and J.P. Primm chipped in 11 points each. Primm had seven assists and two steals.
Gardner-Webb was led by a career-high 26 points from Jonathan Moore. Anton Silver added 20 points. Grayston Flitner had 12 points. Brandon Jackson just missed a double-double with nine points and 13 assists.
Asheville led 81-73 with 1:04 left only to see the Runnin' Bulldogs make a dramatic comeback down the stretch. Taking advantage of some missed Asheville free throws and one key turnover, the visitors cut the Bulldog lead to 87-86 on a Jackson lay-up with 10 seconds left.
Primm was fouled at the 9.1 second mark. He hit both free throws for a 89-86 Asheville lead.
Gardner-Webb tried to get the tie but Flittner's three-pointer was well off. Silver got the rebound with two seconds left but could not get a shot up as the buzzer sounded.
"We survived today against a great effort from Gardner-Webb," stated Biedenbach. "We did a nice job midway through the second half building a lead but left the door open with our missed free throws and lack of defense. If we hit a few more free throws then we could have won this one a little easier. Give Gardner-Webb credit for never backing down and making us earn this one right to the final buzzer."
The game was close most of the way with 12 lead changes. Gardner-Webb led 67-65 after two free throws from Silver at the 7:12 mark. Asheville then began an 11-2 run to take control of the game over the next three minutes. Williams led the run with eight points on four dunks off feeds from Dickey and Primm. His last dunk put Asheville in front 76-69 at the 4-minute mark.
However, the Bulldogs went 7-of-14 from the foul line over the next three minutes to give the Runnin' Bulldogs life. Asheville went 1-of-2 from the charity stripe on seven consecutive possessions.
Both teams shot well from the field in the second half. Asheville went 16-of-30 for 53 percent, while Gardner-Webb went 19-of-32 for 59 percent.
Asheville held a big advantage on the boards with a 42-29 edge.
NOTES - UNC Asheville has won eight straight home games...the Bulldogs tied a school record for conference wins with 11...Asheville is the fourth seed for the second consecutive year...the Bulldogs recovered from a 3-12 record on Jan. 9 and won 11 of their last 14 games.
