2.9.2011 I The Blue Banner
The Bulldogs and the Presybyterian Blue Hose watch as senior forward John Williams makes one of his five attempted free throws Thursday night at home.
The men’s basketball team’s early lead proved too much for conference foe, the Blue Hose
Mattie Weingarfen
mfweinga@unca.edu - Staff Writer
The UNC Asheville Bulldogs
blazed past the Presbyterian
Blue Hose Thursday at the Jus
tice Center, posting an impres
sive final score of 88-55.
The Bulldogs opened strong,
scoring 7 unanswered points
within the first 90 seconds.
“I think the first 10 minutes of
the first half was a highlight,”
Head Coach Eddie Bieden-
bach said. “During that time,
we played very good defense,
shot the ball well and rebound
ed well. This was a really good
team job, and it’s a team effort
every day.”
Junior guard Matt Dickey
echoed the sentiment.
“In the beginning, we went
on a 23-4 run and I think it was
big that we came out strong like
that,” he said. “We knew they
were without their best player,
Al’Lonzo Coleman, who had
got hurt. We knew they were
a scrappy team and they play
good defense, and we knew
we’d have to play a solid game
to beat them.”
Contributing to the win were
Dickey and J.P. Primm, lead
ing the team with 15 points
each. Jaron Lane followed with
14 points and John Williams
posted 11 points. D.J. Cun
ningham and Chris Stephenson
each scored 10 points.
Jake Troyli, who scored a
total of 11 points, led in points
scored for Presbyterian. Ryan
Hargrave followed with 10 and
Khalid Mutakabbir scored 9.
The Bulldogs’ first half was
explosive, as they made 67.7
percent of their shots from the
field and 58.3 percent of their
three-pointers. Presbyterian
only made 19.2 percent of their
field goal attempts and 16.7
percent from beyond the arc.
The difference in shot per
centage was too much for the
Blue Hose in the second half,
although they did improve to
making 46.4 percent of field
goals and 41.7 percent of three-
pointers.
Despite this, the Bulldogs
maintained control, shooting 52
percent of their field goals and
25 percent from beyond the arc
in the second half of play.
The Bulldogs played strong
defense as well, achieving a to
tal of 36 rebounds as opposed
to Presbyterian’s 27. Cunning
ham led the team with a total of
8 rebounds and Williams fol
lowed with 6.
Joshua Clybum was the lead
rebounder for the Blue Hose
with a total of 6 and Tryoli re
bounded 5.
“We played really good de
fense tonight. I think we held
some of their better players to
maybe 10 or 12 points, and that
was big for us,” Dickey said.
“Defense is what it’s going to
be and how we’re going to win,
and it’s fun.”
Another highlight of the game
came from junior guard Primm,
who scored his 1,000th point
in his college career during the
game via a three-pointer in the
second half.
Primm said he is grateful for
the support of the fans and his
teammates and notes the signif
icance of such an achievement.
“It’s a great feeling and a big
accomplishment. 1 remember
scoring my first point against
Belmont Abbey my freshman
See BULLDOGS on page 11