University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Coastal Carolina
Coastal Carolina Roars Past Bulldogs, 98-62
02.06.2010 | Men's Basketball
CONWAY, S.C. - Big South-leading Coastal Carolina went on a 22-2 run in the first half and coasted to a 98-62 win over UNC Asheville before a sell-out crowd at Kimbel Arena Saturday afternoon.
Chris Stephenson led the Bulldogs (10-14, 7-6 BSC) with 15 points. Jaron Lane added 14 points off the bench. Matt Dickey added 11 points, while J.P. Primm finished with 10 points. John Williams had seven points and eight rebounds He blocked a Coastal Carolina shot in the first half that made him the school's all-time career leader in blocked shots. He now has 191 career blocks.
UNC Asheville jumped out to a 4-2 lead on scores from Matt Dickey and J.P. Primm, but the Chants would go on an 8-0 that was capped by a dunk from Chad Gray at 16:26. Jason Lane would answer with two free throws, but the Chants answered with a Sam McLarin free throw and a three from Kieree Greenwood. Joseph Harris would score five points in a row to extend Coastal's advantage to 19-8 with 11:36 left. That was part of the 22-2 run that was capped by a three from Mario Edwards at 6:53, giving the Chants a 36-10 advantage. Coastal made it 40-14 on a dunk from Chris Evans at 5:17. Coastal had its biggest lead of the half (45-16) at 4:41 on a layup from Danny Nieman at 4:18. Coastal took a 51-25 lead into halftime, the second straight game the Chants scored 50 or more points in the first half.
Greenwood led Coastal (21-4, 11-2 BSC) with 12 first-half points, while Harris added 10. Greenwood added five rebounds, while Nieman had five first-half assists. Coastal shot a blistering 60 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes and were 5-of-8 from three-point range. For UNC Asheville, Dickey had seven first-half points. Asheville shot 26.7 percent from the field and just 1-of-12 from three-point range in the first 20 minutes.
Asheville came out of the lockerroom and would cut the Coastal lead to 57-38 at 16:11 on two Lane free throws. Stephenson would then hit a three at 13:47 to make it 61-43, but that would be as close as the Bulldogs would get in the second half. A Harris dunk at 10:18 made it 69-47 and an Edwards' three at 8:01 gave the Chants a 78-51 advantage. Coastal took its biggest lead of the game with 46 seconds left on a Tre Lee tip-in..
Harris tied his season high with 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the floor. He added nine rebounds and had three steals. Greenwood had 16 points and nine rebounds, seven of them on the defensive end. Nieman had 10 points and nine assists, going 5-of-8 from the floor. Edwards and Evans had 13 and 12 points, respectively.
Coastal Carolina ended the game shooting 55.1 percent from the floor and 7-of-15 from three-point range. The Chants also held Asheville to just 28.8 percent shooting from the floor and 3-of-24 from three-point range.
"We didn't grind things out when things got tough and we caught Coastal Carolina when they played great today," stated Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach. "We've got some work to do after this weekend."
Asheville plays next at home against Big South foe Liberty at Justice Center starting at 7 p.m.
