University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Winthrop
Bulldogs Defeat Winthrop 67-55
02.25.2012 | Men's Basketball
The win by Asheville (21-9, 16-2) was its 16th Big South Conference victory and that tied a conference record set by Coastal Carolina last season.
The Big South Conference regular-season champions also picked up their 21st win of the year, matching the most wins by a Bulldog program in the regular season in the school's Division I era.
Matt Dickey added 12 points and four assists in the victory. Jeremy Atkinson finished with 12 points and five assists.
Winthrop (11-19, 8-10 BSC) was led by Reggie Middleton with 12 points and six assists. George Valentine contributed 11 points, while Gideon Gamble and Matt Morgan pumped in 10 points each.
The Bulldogs used some hot shooting from beyond the arc to build a 35-26 halftime lead. Asheville was 14-of-21 from the field and 5-of-10 from long distance. Atkinson knocked down two treys and three other Bulldogs sank three-pointers.
Asheville used a late-rally in the first to build the nine-point advantage. Leading 26-24 with 4:21 left, Trent Meyer knocked down a long three-pointer to push the lead to 29-24. Dickey then fed Keith Hornsby for a lay-up to push the lead to 31-24.
At 33-26, Winthrop was playing for a last-second shot but Dickey forced a steal and sent a long pass to Hornsby who scored as the first-half buzzer sounded to give the Bulldogs the 35-26 lead.
The second-half was a foul-fest as each team was whistled for 15 fouls each. Winthorp's defense limited the Bulldogs to just six field goals as the home team shot just .273 (6-of-22) from the field. However, Asheville was 18-of-24 from the foul line and never allowed the Eagles to get closer than eight points in the second half.
Winthrop hurt itself in the second half by shooting just .455 from the free throw line (10-of-22) and .385 (9-of-22) from the field.
Both teams play next in the quarterfinals of the Advance Auto Parts Big South Conference Championship that will be held at Kimmel Arena on Wednesday. Asheville plays in the 6 p.m. against the winner of the first round game between the eight-seeded and ninth-seed teams that will be played on Monday night.
NOTES - UNC Asheville is 12-2 at Kimmel Arena and went 8-1 in league games this season...the Bulldogs are 22-2 against BSC opponents since the end of the last season...Asheville has won five Big South Conference regular-season titles all under Eddie Biedenbach...the Bulldogs swept the season series from Winthrop for the first time since the 2007-08 campaign...senior guard Matt Dickey finished the regular season by scoring in double figures in 27 of 30 games...the 67 points was the second lowest point total for Asheville in a victory this year...Asheville out-rebounded Winthrop 31-29 and has out-rebounded six of its last seven opponents.
