University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
VMI
UNC Asheville Downs VMI 94-85
01.05.2012 | Men's Basketball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - UNC Asheville placed five players in double figures as the Bulldogs led from start to finish to down VMI 94-85 in Big South Conference action at Kimmel Arena Thursday night before a crowd of 1,620 fans.
Asheville (9-6, 4-0 BSC) won its third straight game and remained perfect in the Big South Conference with the victory. Senior guard Matt Dickey scored a team-high 23 points, while J.P. Primm finished with 21 points, and seven assists. He was a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line.
Chris Stephenson contributed 17 points, six assists and four steals for the Bulldogs. Jeremy Atkinson chipped in 16 points, six rebounds and four steals. Reserve guard Trent Meyer did a nice job for Asheville off the bench with 10 points. He was a perfect 4-of-4 from the field and 2-of-2 from the three-point line.
The Keydets (7-9, 2-3 BSC) had a two-game winning streak snapped. Stan Okoye topped VMI with 23 points and 11 rebounds. Keith Gabriel finished with 20 points, while Michael Sparks contributed 19 points and Rodney Glasgow pumped in 10 points. Ron Burks had seven rebounds and seven assists.
The Bulldogs shot the ball well all night long. They shot .485 (32-of-66) from the field, a season-high .526 (10-of-19) from beyond the arc and .833 (20-of-24) from the free throw line. After turning the ball over 37 times in the last two games, the Bulldogs only had nine turnovers Thursday night.
"We played some pretty well on the offensive end," commented Bulldog coach Eddie Biedenbach. "I like the fact that we had a lot of contributions from everyone who played. VMI is a tough team to defend but overall we played well and picked up an important win in conference play."
Asheville surged to an early 15-6 lead behind seven early points from Stephenson. The Bulldogs used a 7-0 burst midway through the opening half to lead 3-17 on a Stephenson dunk with 9:04 left.
But the Keydets rallied as Okoye had 14 first-half points to close to 45-39 at halftime. Gabriel had nine points in the final five minutes of the half.
Jarid Watson tapped in a VMI miss to cut the Asheville lead to 51-47 with 16 minutes left but that was as close the Keydets would get the rest of the game.
The Bulldogs went on a 10-2 run over the next four minutes to push the lead to 61-49 as Primm led the run with six points.
Two free throws from Primm at the 5:41 mark gave Asheville an 82-67 lead. VMI would get no closer than the final margin.
Asheville stays at home on Saturday when the Bulldogs host Liberty at Kimmel Arena starting at 4:30 p.m. VMI heads to Winthrop to battle the Eagles at 4 p.m.
BULLDOG NOTES
Thursday's game was the first ever Big South Conference contest at Kimmel Arena as UNC Asheville is playing its first season here.
Dickey and Primm combined for 44 points after combining for just 12 on Monday night at Radford.
The win was the Bulldogs fifth straight at home.
Dickey's 23 points gives him 1,474 career points and that moves him into seventh place on Asheville's career scoring list. He moved past Josh Kohn (1,467) on Thursday night.
Primm, the school's all-time career leader in assists, increased his total to 528.
The Bulldogs have won 10 straight games against Big South Conference teams dating back to last season and that includes last year's Big South Tournament.
