University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Celebrating 90 Years - Bulldogs Pick Up Historic Win at Auburn
11.14.2017 | Men's Basketball
The UNC Asheville men's basketball team opened the season with a tough loss last Friday night to a very good Rhode Island squad.
That's nothing new for the Bulldog program. Asheville has always faced a strong non-conference schedule that usually includes a tough opponent to start the season.
The Dogs have lost a lot of those games but have used those games to prepare for the Big South Conference where Asheville has had the best league record over the last 10 years.
Let's look back seven years when the Bulldogs faced a formidable opponent and ended up with one of the best wins in the Division I era.
Opening night for the 2010-11 season would take place in Auburn, Ala. Asheville returned a talented team but would have its hands full against the War Eagles. Not only was Auburn playing for a new coach in Tony Barbee but it would be the first game in its new facility – Auburn Arena.
A sell-out crowd was on-hand to root Auburn to a victory in its new big-time arena. It was an interesting time to be at Auburn as Cam Newton was leading the football team to a national title and the next day the Tigers would be hosting Georgia. There were also a lot of rumors about how Cam got to Auburn, so while fans were excited about the football team's success, there was also a sense of panic that this success could all come crashing down.
Asheville did not play well in the first half as a motivated Auburn team played great defense and banked in back-to-back three-pointers to end the half to lead 37-21 at halftime.
It appeared the script was going as planned for the Tigers. Win easily for the home folks in their new arena and get ready to beat some more Bulldogs the next day in football vs. Georgia.
Asheville wasn't interested in following that script. The Bulldogs quickly came out of the gates early in the second half to cut the lead to 45-41 by the first media timeout.
But Auburn wouldn't budge and Eddie Biedenbach's club just couldn't seem to get that big bucket or stop.
After a technical foul against Biedenbach with 4:30 left, Auburn led 60-48. The technical seemed to get the Bulldogs going, and the visitors started getting a couple of calls to go their way as well.
Six straight free throws from three different Dogs cut the lead to 60-54. Auburn got a bucket to push the lead to 62-54 before Asheville made its final push.
A three pointer from JP Primm and two free throws from Alabama native Matt Dickey narrowed the lead to 62-59 with 1:00 left.
Auburn led 63-59 when DJ Cunningham tapped in a missed shot to cut the lead to 63-61. Asheville stole the ball on the inbounds pass, and Primm was fouled with 28 seconds left. He missed both charity tosses but amazingly John Williams rebounded the second missed free throw and scored to tie the game at 63-63.
The Tigers couldn't get a good shot off to end regulation so Auburn's new arena would get overtime in its first game.
A Jaron Lane three-point play to open OT would put the Bulldogs in front for the first time and two more Williams' free throws would give Asheville a 70-65 lead.
The Dogs would not score again, and Auburn got the next four points to carve the lead to 70-69.
Auburn would have a chance to win but Chris Stephenson intercepted a Tiger pass and stole the ball as time ran out to give the Bulldogs the win over a Power Five school.
The win was important for that Bulldog team as it showed they could come back at any time against anybody. Asheville would be up-and-down for most of that season until catching fire late in the year and winning the Big South Tournament and advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in school history.
It would be a memorable homecoming for Dickey who scored a team-high 18 points and had three steals, all in the final minutes of regulation to help fuel the Bulldogs' comeback. Matt would have so more memorable moments that year and we'll talk more about that in the weeks to come.
**In celebration of UNC Asheville's 90th anniversary, Hall of Famer Mike Gore will look back on important moments in athletics department history over the course of the 2017-18 athletic year**
That's nothing new for the Bulldog program. Asheville has always faced a strong non-conference schedule that usually includes a tough opponent to start the season.
The Dogs have lost a lot of those games but have used those games to prepare for the Big South Conference where Asheville has had the best league record over the last 10 years.
Let's look back seven years when the Bulldogs faced a formidable opponent and ended up with one of the best wins in the Division I era.
Opening night for the 2010-11 season would take place in Auburn, Ala. Asheville returned a talented team but would have its hands full against the War Eagles. Not only was Auburn playing for a new coach in Tony Barbee but it would be the first game in its new facility – Auburn Arena.
A sell-out crowd was on-hand to root Auburn to a victory in its new big-time arena. It was an interesting time to be at Auburn as Cam Newton was leading the football team to a national title and the next day the Tigers would be hosting Georgia. There were also a lot of rumors about how Cam got to Auburn, so while fans were excited about the football team's success, there was also a sense of panic that this success could all come crashing down.
Asheville did not play well in the first half as a motivated Auburn team played great defense and banked in back-to-back three-pointers to end the half to lead 37-21 at halftime.
It appeared the script was going as planned for the Tigers. Win easily for the home folks in their new arena and get ready to beat some more Bulldogs the next day in football vs. Georgia.
Asheville wasn't interested in following that script. The Bulldogs quickly came out of the gates early in the second half to cut the lead to 45-41 by the first media timeout.
But Auburn wouldn't budge and Eddie Biedenbach's club just couldn't seem to get that big bucket or stop.
After a technical foul against Biedenbach with 4:30 left, Auburn led 60-48. The technical seemed to get the Bulldogs going, and the visitors started getting a couple of calls to go their way as well.
Six straight free throws from three different Dogs cut the lead to 60-54. Auburn got a bucket to push the lead to 62-54 before Asheville made its final push.
A three pointer from JP Primm and two free throws from Alabama native Matt Dickey narrowed the lead to 62-59 with 1:00 left.
Auburn led 63-59 when DJ Cunningham tapped in a missed shot to cut the lead to 63-61. Asheville stole the ball on the inbounds pass, and Primm was fouled with 28 seconds left. He missed both charity tosses but amazingly John Williams rebounded the second missed free throw and scored to tie the game at 63-63.
The Tigers couldn't get a good shot off to end regulation so Auburn's new arena would get overtime in its first game.
A Jaron Lane three-point play to open OT would put the Bulldogs in front for the first time and two more Williams' free throws would give Asheville a 70-65 lead.
The Dogs would not score again, and Auburn got the next four points to carve the lead to 70-69.
Auburn would have a chance to win but Chris Stephenson intercepted a Tiger pass and stole the ball as time ran out to give the Bulldogs the win over a Power Five school.
The win was important for that Bulldog team as it showed they could come back at any time against anybody. Asheville would be up-and-down for most of that season until catching fire late in the year and winning the Big South Tournament and advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in school history.
It would be a memorable homecoming for Dickey who scored a team-high 18 points and had three steals, all in the final minutes of regulation to help fuel the Bulldogs' comeback. Matt would have so more memorable moments that year and we'll talk more about that in the weeks to come.
**In celebration of UNC Asheville's 90th anniversary, Hall of Famer Mike Gore will look back on important moments in athletics department history over the course of the 2017-18 athletic year**
Monday, March 18
Monday, March 18
Thursday, March 14
Monday, March 04