University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Connecticut
Huskies Hold Off Bulldogs, 73-63 in Battle "4" Atlantis
11.24.2011 | Men's Basketball
PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas - #4 UCONN got 23 points each from Jeremy Lamb and Shabazz Napier as the Huskies held on to defeat a pesky UNC Asheville squad Thursday night in the first round of the Battle "4" Atlantis at Imperial Arena.
Asheville will face College of Charleston Friday at 7 p.m. in the consolation bracket. The Cougars fell to Central Florida, 74-63 earlier in the day.
The unbeaten Huskies (5-0) led 16-3 after five minutes but the Bulldogs kept coming and never made things easy for the defending national champions.
Matt Dickey led Asheville (2-3) with 18 points, while Jeremy Atkinson added 14 points and nine rebounds. J.P. Primm finished with 10 points and seven assists.
"We battled hard tonight and did a lot of good things but not enough against a team like Connecticut," stated Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach. "I think once we got the jitters out early then we settled down and played some good basketball.
"We're a resilient team and that showed tonight," added Biedenbach. "However, while I am pleased about a lot of things, I'm disappointed we didn't win tonight."
Huskie coach Jim Calhoun was impressed with the Bulldogs.
"They (UNC Asheville) played the 100 percent against the way we want to play," Calhoun said, "and if we stopped doing things the right way for a minute, they came right back at us. ... I wouldn't want to play them every single day. Give them the utmost respect.
"Overall, a win is a win, but no one's played us even near that hard since we played Butler last year," added Calhoun, whose team beat Butler in the NCAA title game last season.
After UConn raced to a 16-3 lead and took a 38-29 advantage in the second half, the Bulldogs' Chris Stephenson hit a 3-pointer to cut UConn lead to seven with 17:12 to play.
"We've played in games where we had to fight back," Dickey said. "When we cut it to seven, we definitely had a feeling we could make a comeback. A couple breaks that would have gone our way, and we could have gotten it closer and made a real run of it at the end."
Atkinson started in place of Jaron Lane, who missed the game with a sprained ankle. The junior college transfer went 5-for-10 from the field, 2-for-3 from beyond the arc and had two assists and two steals.
"Jeremy Atkinson played tremendous for us this evening," commented Biedenbach. "He stepped up and had a big game and kept us in the game. I'm very proud of his effort."
NOTES - This will be the first time UNC Asheville has faced College of Charleston since the 1990-91 season when the teams split home victories...Eddie Biedenbach played against Cougar coach Bobby Cremins when both played in the ACC in the late 60's...Cremins is 2-0 vs. Asheville, once at Appalachian State and once at Georgia Tech...J.P. Primm has 24 assists in the last three games.
