University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
USC Upstate
Bulldogs Rally Past Upstate 88-81; Coach Biedenbach Earns 250th Career Win
12.04.2011 | Men's Basketball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - UNC Asheville scored the final 16 points of the game to rally past USC Upstate 88-81 Sunday afternoon at Kimmel Arena.
The win gave UNC Asheville head coach Eddie Biedenbach his 250th career victory as head coach.
The Bulldogs (5-4) won their third straight game, despite trailing 81-72 with 3:38 remaining.
Asheville was led by Matt Dickey with 22 points, while Chris Stephenson added 20 points and nine rebounds. Jeremy Atkinson finished with 18 points and seven rebounds.
The Spartans (6-3) were led by a season-high 28 points from Torrey Craig. Craig was saddled with foul trouble for most of the game. He played just 24 minutes but went 10-of-10 from the free throw line and knocked down four 3-pointers. Chalmers Rogers added 10 points.
"We were fortunate. USC Upstate out-played us for most of the game but we hung in there and found a way to win at the end," stated Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach. "Our press really worked well and got us some easy baskets."
USC Upstate got two free throws from Craig at the 3:38 mark to give the Spartans an 81-72 lead.
Asheville's comeback began when Atkinson scored on a three-point play to cut the lead to 81-75. After a Spartan miss, Dickey sank a long three-pointer to cut the lead to 81-78. Dickey then stole the inbounds pass and fed Jaron Lane who scored on a lay-up to narrow the lead to 81-80 at the 2:46 mark.
Upstate missed on its next possession and Atkinson drove the lane and got fouled. His two free throws with 2:09 remaining gave the Bulldogs an 82-81 lead.
After another Spartan turnover, Dickey scored off a feed from Atkinson to push the lead to 84-81.
Both teams had turnovers on the next possession before Chris Stephenson scored on a lay-up to give the Bulldogs an 86-81 lead. Asheville hit two more throws in the final 30 seconds to seal the victory.
The Spartans took charge of the game midway through the second half when they scored eight straight points to lead 75-67 as four different Upstate players scored during the run. They build the lead to 81-72 before the Asheville comeback
The Bulldogs shot .633 (19-of-30) from the field in the first half as Dickey scored 15 points. However, Upstate stayed in the game with 10 offensive rebounds in the opening half. The visitors out-scored Asheville 10-5 on second-chance points.
Dickey finished with five assists and four steals. Atkinson had a career-best six steals.
Asheville shot a season-high .627 from the field (32-of-51), while the Spartans shot just .412 (28-of-68).
UNC Asheville plays next on Dec. 15 when the Bulldogs host neighboring NAIA foe Montreat at Kimmel Arena starting at 7 p.m. USC Upstate plays at Dayton next Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.
