University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Bulldogs to Play at VMI on Saturday at 1 p.m.
01.28.2011 | Men's Basketball
Winning at VMI will not be easy. The Bulldogs lost to the Keydets at Justice Center back on Dec. 31, 83-72. Asheville also needs to put a tough loss the Flames behind them. Eddie Biedenbach's club fought back from a 10-point second-half deficit to lead by three late in regulation before Evan Gordon hit a miracle trey to tie the game. In overtime, John Brown tapped in a missed shot by the Flames at the buzzer to give the Flames the dramatic victory.
"We made a great comeback and battled hard but unfortunately came up a little short," stated Biedenbach. "It was a game no one deserved to lose. We need to simply turn the page and get ready for VMI. Our guys have always done a good job of bouncing back after a tough loss."
Asheville (10-10, 5-5 BSC) was led by 20 points from Matt Dickey at Liberty and a career-high nine assists. D.J. Cunningham helped lead the comeback as he finished with 16 points and nine rebounds. Jaron Lane added 12 points, while John Williams finished with 11 points and a dunk that was featured on ESPN SportsCenter's Top 10 Play list on Friday.
The Bulldogs and Keydets have had a strange rivalry over the years as each team has done a good job winning on the road in the series. VMI's win on Dec. 31 was its fourth in the last five years at Justice Center. However, Asheville has won three straight games at Cameron Hall and is 6-1 vs. the Keydets in Lexington since the VMI program joined the Big South.
"We need to win on Saturday," commented Biedenbach. "It will not be easy as VMI is playing very well right now but we've let some games get away from us in the conference."
Dickey is now tied with junior guard J.P. Primm for the scoring lead as each player has a 15.2 average. Dickey needs just one more point to become the 26th player in school history to reach 1,000 points. Primm was saddled with foul trouble for most of the game and had a season-low six points but did dish out seven assists. Cunningham is averaging 10.6 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. He continues to lead the league in blocked shots with a 1.88 per game average.
VMI (12-8, 5-5 BSC) has won three of its last four games, including an impressive 85-66 victory over Gardner-Webb Thursday night. The Keydets are led by sophomore center Stan Okoye with an 18.6 scoring average. Austin Kenon is averaging 17.5 points per game, while Keith Gabriel has a 16.0 average.
"When you play VMI, you have to be careful not to play their game," said Biedenbach. "You have to get good shots and be smart on offense. They can score points in a hurry. Hopefully, we'll be ready to play from start to finish on Saturday."
BULLDOG NOTES
UNC Asheville and VMI are tied for fifth place in the Big South standing with a 5-5 league mark. The top four finishers in league play host first-round Big South Tournament games. Each team is a half-game behind 5-4 Winthrop in fourth place.
The Bulldogs have played four overtime games this year and are 2-2 in those games. In Asheville's last 25 games dating back to last season, the Bulldogs have played six overtime games, going 3-3 in those contests with five of those games in overtime.
VMI is looking for its first season sweep of Asheville since the 2006-07 season.
The Bulldogs have shot better than 50 percent from the field in five of their last six games. Asheville shot 53.8 percent (28-of-52) at Liberty on Thursday. With the loss, that marked the first time the Bulldogs have shot better than 50 percent from the field and lost. Asheville is now 6-1 in those games.
Asheville is 3-2 in Big South Conference road games. The Bulldogs' three conference road wins have been by 20 points or more. Asheville's two league road losses have been by a total of five points.
In four of the Bulldogs league losses, Asheville has led in the second half.
D.J. Cunningham has 82 career blocked shots and is now seventh on Asheville's career list.
After the game at VMI, the Bulldogs will play five of their final eight games at home with four of those being Big South Conference contests.
