University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
North Carolina
Top-Ranked Tar Heels Hold Off Bulldogs, 91-75
11.13.2011 | Men's Basketball
The Bulldogs were led by senior guard J.P. Primm who scored 23 points, while junior forward Jaron Lane added a career-best 21 points. Matt Dickey finished with 14 points. Chris Stephenson chipped in 13 points and eight rebounds.
UNC (2-0) had a double-double from John Henson with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Harrison Barnes finished with 17 points.
The undersized Bulldogs (0-2) battled hard and led for part of the first half before the Tar Heels (2-0) made a late run in the first half and kept it up in the second half to seize control of the contest.
UNC built a 20-point lead midway through the second half only to see Primm and Lane bring the Bulldogs back. A lay-up from Stephenson narrowed the lead to 85-73 and had the crowd rocking.
But the Tar Heels sealed the victory with five straight points to push the lead to 90-73.
"We battled hard today and our crowd was terrific," stated Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach. "North Carolina is a great basketball team and their inside game was terrific. We just let them score too easily inside all day.
"I really appreciate Coach Williams coming here to open our arena," added Biedenbach. "This was a great day for our basketball program and our school. We competed and just wish we could have made a few more shots and a couple of more plays."
The Bulldogs had an early 14-9 lead before the Tar Heels went on a 9-0 run take an 18-14 lead. Asheville kept within striking distance. Stephenson scored on a lay-up to narrow the UNC margin to 44-39. But Kendall Marshall and Zeller scored the final four points of the half to put the Tar Heels on top 48-39 at halftime.
Kendall Marshall led the UNC offense with 15 assists. Henson, Barnes and Zeller combined to 22-for-34 from the field. They also got to the free throw line a great deal. Zeller went 11-of-13 from the charity stripe.
Primm went 7-of-12 from the field and 6-of-6 from the free throw line. Lane, shook off a knee injury suffered in the first half, to go 8-of-12 from the field.
UNC out-rebounded Asheville 41-27.
The Bulldogs play at home again on Wednesday night when they host area foe Mars Hill College at 7 p.m.
BULLDOG NOTES
The national anthem was performed by Grammy-award winning artist Bruce Hornsby. His son, Keith, is a freshman on this year's Bulldog team.
Sunday's game was sold out three weeks ago.
Primm has averaged 22 points against the Tar Heels the past two years.
Asheville had 10 steals in the game.
