Coastal Carolina Holds Off Bulldog Comeback, 74-69

CONWAY, S.C. - Anthony Raffs scored 20 points, including a desperation three-pointer late in the game, as Coastal Carolina held off UNC Asheville 74-69 in Big South Conference action at Kimbel Arena Tuesday night.

The loss snapped a 10-game Asheville (19-8, 14-2 BSC) road winning streak in league play dating back to last season.

The Chanticleers (18-8, 11-5 BSC) led by 15 at the half but had to hold a Bulldog comeback in the second half that saw Asheville cut the lead to one late in the game.

Matt Dickey led Asheville with 19 points, while Jeremy Atkinson finished with 16 points and nine rebounds. Dickey moved into a tie for third place on Asheville's career scoring list. He and Paul Allen are tied with 1,693 points.

CCU was aided by Chris Gradnigo with 15 points and 13 rebounds.

"We did a great job battling back in the second half but we shouldn't have gotten that far behind in the first half," commented Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach. "We did a lot of good things in the second half but Raffa hit some tough shots, including the one late in the game that hurt us."

Asheville trailed 67-58 with less than three minutes left but carved the lead to 67-64 with under a minute left. With two Bulldogs around him and the shot-clock winding down, Raffa threw up a 28-footer that went in the basket to give the home team a 70-64 lead with 38 seconds left.

The Bulldogs refused to quit but Raffa answered each Asheville basket with two free throws to seal the win for the Chants.

J.P. Primm added 12 points and nine rebounds for the Bulldogs, while Jaron Lane chipped in 12 points, all in the second half. Third-leading scorer Chris Stephenson did not play in the second half due to an injury suffered in the first half.

The Bulldogs scored the first four points of the game but nothing went right for Asheville after that as the Chanticleers scored the next 15 points to race to a 15-4 lead. CCU knocked down its first four three-pointers of the game and raced to a 35-20 halftime lead.

The 20 points was a season-low for Asheville in a half this season. The Bulldogs shot an anemic .250 from the field (8-of-32) in the opening half.

Gradnigo scored 11 points for the home team as he was a perfect 3-of-3 from beyond the arc in the first half. Pack added 10 points

"We didn't do a good job guarding the three-point line in the first half and that really killed us," said Biedenbach.

UNC Asheville returns to action Saturday evening when the Bulldogs participate in the ESPN Bracketbusters. Asheville plays at Ohio University Saturday evening at 7 p.m. The game will be on ESPN3 and broadcast on WWNC Radio (570-AM).