University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Furman
Smith's Late Bucket Lifts Bulldogs Past Furman
12.29.2015 | Men's Basketball
THE RUNDOWN
Score: Asheville 67 – Furman 65
Teams: Asheville (8-5, 1-0 BSC)
Furman (6-7, 0-0 SoCon)
Location: Kimmel Arena/Asheville, N.C.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Freshman Dylan Smith's jumper with 1.5 seconds remaining gave UNC Asheville a 67-65 home victory over Furman on Tuesday night as the Bulldogs closed non-conference play and head into their Big South Conference campaign and the New Year.
THE TURNING POINT
Smith finished with 20 points, as the freshman was 4-of-8 from the three-point line. After Furman knotted the game at 65-all with a pair of free throws, Smith calmly dribbled down the clock for his near-last second bucket. Furman's ensuing inbounds attempt was deflected by Sam Hughes and the visitors never got a shot away at the buzzer.
NOTABLES
-In addition to Smith's 20-point night, the Bulldogs saw Kevin Vannatta collect a career-high 21 points, including 12 in the final half, to pace Asheville. Ahmad Thomas chipped in 11 points of his own.
-After winning the rebounding battle their first 10 games, the Bulldogs have now been outrebounded three consecutive contests after Furman tallied a 37-34 advantage Tuesday. Asheville is 2-1 this season when being outrebounded.
-The Bulldogs forced 17 turnovers but turned that into just 14 points, while Furman outscored Asheville 11-2 in second-chance points.
-Asheville was 7-of-17 from the three-point line (41 percent) and shot 49 percent (26-of-53) from the floor, while Furman finished 43 percent (23-of-54) from the floor and hit six three-pointers (6-of-22).
-Furman saw three players hit double-digits scoring, including 16 points each from starter Stephen Croone and Devin Sibley off the bench. The Bulldog bench outscored Furman 25-21 in the win.
QUOTABLES FROM HEAD COACH NICK McDEVITT
On the game – “A couple big shots by Dylan down the stretch, but I thought overall both teams were just battling. It wasn't pretty, but I thought we continued to work hard and play together and were fortunate to get a quality win.”
On ending non-conference play with a win – “It's nice to go into conference play with a little bit of confidence. Furman is very much like a lot of teams in the Big South. We told the players if you are going to give yourselves a chance to win a regular season title, you have to win home games. Fortunately, we made enough plays tonight to get a win.”
On the next two BSC games on the road – “We talk to our team about winning being hard; winning on the road is really hard. I don't care what league you are in – the Big South, the SoCon, the SEC, the ACC – winning games on the road in league play is difficult. Winning either of these games on the road trip is hard.”
UP NEXT
-Following tonight's win, the Bulldogs head back on the road and will ring in the New Year with Big South Conference matchups in Virginia, beginning Thursday at 2:00 p.m. at Longwood before starting 2016 at Liberty on January 2.
