University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Bulldogs Host High Point in Crucial Big South Tilt on Thursday
02.23.2011 | Men's Basketball
Asheville needs a win tonight and a victory on Saturday vs. Radford to clinch third place in the final Big South Conference standings and be sure of hosting a conference tournament game this Tuesday (March 1) night. The Bulldogs helped themselves mightily on Tuesday night with a thrilling 61-58 Big South Conference road win over regular-season champion Coastal Carolina as Matt Dickey stole a Chanticleer pass and hit a 27-footer as the buzzer sounded. The win snapped a frustrating two-game Asheville losing streak where the Bulldogs twice lost second-half leads of 10 points or more. Asheville hosts a High Point team that defeated them back on Dec. 4 as the Panthers rallied for a 76-73 victory. Scott Cherry's team lost a heart-breaking 82-81 decision to Appalachian State on Saturday night in the Sears ESPN Bracketbuster Series.
"We had a great victory Tuesday night at Coastal Carolina but there is no time to enjoy that win," stated Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach. "Our guys have got to be ready to face a tough High Point team Thursday evening. They beat us at their place earlier this year, and we always have tough games with them,"
Biedenbach hopes the victory on Tuesday will allow the Bulldogs to finish out close games a little better. In six of Asheville's seven league losses, the Bulldogs have led in the second half. Prior to Tuesday's win, Biedenbach's club has dropped the last three games where they led at halftime.
"We've been playing some good basketball but we just haven't finished some games like we should have," explained Biedenbach. "We had some breaks go against us in some of the games but we also didn't get the job done either. Hopefully, getting a win at a place like Coastal Carolina will get us over the hump in some close games down the stretch. We know we're going to be involved in some as we get to tournament time."
Dickey leads Asheville in scoring with a 15.0 average, while J.P. Primm is averaging 14.9 points per game. High Point is being led by senior guard Nick Barbour with a 17.3 scoring average. Shay Shine is next with a 14.4 mark.
BULLDOG NOTES
Each team has had its last two games go down to the final buzzer. The Bulldogs lost 83-82 to Northeastern on Saturday when a last-second shot by Chris Stephenson was ruled a two-pointer instead of a three-pointer. Matt Dickey then hit a last-second three-pointer at Coastal Carolina Tuesday night to give the Bulldogs a 61-58 win. High Point's Nick Barbour hit a shot at the end of double overtime last Tuesday (1-15) as the Panthers edged Winthrop 70-69. On Saturday, Barbour's last-second shot was short as ASU edged High Point, 82-81.
If Asheville can win its last two BSC games, the Bulldogs will finish with 11 conference wins, tying a school record that they set last season. Two wins would put Asheville as the third seed in the Big South Conference standings. It would be the highest finish for the Bulldogs since finishing first in the 2007-08 season.
The Bulldogs have three players who have scored 1,000 career points. Matt Dickey leads the way with 1,001 points. John Williams has 1,100 points, while J.P. Primm has 1,072 points.
Asheville is 7-5 in home games this season 3-4 in league home games. The Bulldogs enter tonight's game with two straight home losses by a total of five points.
The Bulldogs have been out-rebounded in four of their last five games.
The Bulldogs won the game Tuesday night at Coastal Carolina when Matt Dickey made a steal and hit a last-second shot against the Chanticleers. It is appropriate that Asheville won the game on a steal as the Bulldogs have been among the nation's leaders all year in that category. Asheville has 253 steals on the season with an average of 9.37 per game. That figure is seventh best in the nation and tops the Big South. J.P. Primm leads Asheville with 57 steals and 2.1 per game average. Dickey is right behind him with 52 and 1.9 per game mark.
Asheville has been above 70 percent from the free throw line in 10 of its last 12 games.
John Williams is UNC Asheville's all-time leader in blocked shots with 238 swats. He is third all-time in the Big South in that category. Williams now has 641 career rebounds, good for sixth place on Asheville's career list. He is one of only three players in Big South history to score more than 1,000 points, grab more than 600 rebounds and block more than 200 shots.
The Bulldogs have won four straight games against the Panthers at Justice Center. However, High Point had four of its previous five visits to Justice before Asheville's recent streak.
Matt Dickey's last-second shot on Tuesday night at Coastal Carolina was ESPN's Play of the Day.
UNC Asheville finished the regular-season with a 6-3 Big South Conference road record after the Bulldogs thrilling 61-58 victory at Coastal Carolina Tuesday night. The six wins are the most ever for an Asheville team since joining the Big South. Two of the league losses were by a total of five points and in the other one, a 79-70 loss at Charleston Southern last week, the Bulldogs led by 11 points early in the second half. Asheville posted three wins by 20 points or more on the road, becoming the first team in Big South Conference history to accomplish that feat.
