University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Men's Basketball Set to Play at Charleston Southern and Coastal Carolina This Weekend
02.03.2010 | Men's Basketball
The Bulldogs (10-12, 7-4 BSC) have won seven straight after defeating defending Big South champion Radford on Sunday, 92-84. It marks the longest winning streak in two years for Asheville. The 2007-08 Bulldogs won seven straight during the year. Asheville has not won eight in a row since the 1997-98 squad won nine consecutive games.
The Bulldogs are in a tie with Winthrop for third place in the latest league standings, a half-game behind second-place Radford (8-4). Asheville knows it will have its hands full this weekend at Charleston Southern and Coastal Carolina. Both teams defeated the Bulldogs last month in Asheville. The Bucs edged the Dogs77-74 in overtime on Jan. 9, and Coastal Carolina slipped past Asheville on a last-second shot by Chad Gray on Jan. 7, 58-57.
"We had two great games with Charleston Southern and Coastal Carolina last month but fell a little short in each one," stated Bulldog coach Eddie Biedenbach. "We've played much better lately, but we're going to have to be at our best to have a chance at winning at either place this weekend. Charleston Southern has been very tough to beat at home this season. Coastal Carolina is 19-4 and has been tough to beat anywhere this year."
The Bulldogs focus begins with Charleston Southern. The Buccaneers (5-6, 10-11) ended a seven-game losing streak to Asheville last month with their overtime win. They have a formidable backcourt with Jamarco Warren and Jeremy Sexton.
"Charleston Southern is a good team and are well-coached," said Biedenbach. "We really played pretty well against them at our place but could never put them away. I like their backcourt, and they have guys who battle you inside. It will be a very tough game on Thursday night."
The Bulldogs go into Thursday's game with five players scoring in double figures in J.P. Primm (12.0), Matt Dickey (11.1), John Williams (11.1), Sean Smith (10.2) and Chris Stephenson (10.2). Williams needs just one more blocked shot to become the school's career-leader in that category. He is tied with former Bulldog C.J. Walker as both have 190 blocks. The junior forward has blocked 29 shots in the last six games. His 3.0 per game average leads the Big South and is 12th nationally.
NOTES - The Bulldogs have shot better than 50 percent from the field in three straight games and four of the last five contests...Asheville has won six straight BSC games and in five of those games it was out-rebounded by more than six rebounds per game...Matt Dickey has scored in double figures in seven straight games...freshman guard Jaron Lane scored a career-best 17 points and collected a career-high eight rebounds against Radford...the Bulldogs are 3-2 on the road this year in BSC play...Asheville leads the league in assists (16.9) and blocked shots (6.0)...the Bulldogs are 11th in the nation in assists and 17th in the nation in blocked shots.
