UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA ASHEVILLE
The Blue Banner
fhu
rsdav, February 7, 2008
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he
ews
|in Brief
iBulldog
basketball rises to
Ithe national radar
For the first time in school
i^,or\', the UNC Asheville
jen's basketball team received
single vote in the AP Top 25
toll this week.
: The team also rose three
llaces to the No. 12 spot on the
;ollegelnsider.com Mid-Major
'op 25 poll after wins over
[loastal Carolina and Winthrop.
The Bulldogs beat Winthrop
■'71-56 Saturday, with senior
uard K.J. Garland scoring a
;ason-high 26 points. As a result
f the impressive performance,
jiarland was named Big South
'layer of the Week.
The Bulldogs look to continue
'a seven-game winning streak
rhen they travel to Lynchburg,
h.. Saturday to face the Liberty
University Flames.
Bodies of hikers
recovered after
four-month search
[ The body of missing hiker
|ohn Bryant was discovered
||iby a hunter on Feb. 2 outside
I Franklin.
H The hunter was walking
prough the woods along a forest
lervice road when he spotted a
ikull.
Bryant and his wife Irene
vent missing in October while
liking in the Pisgah National
Forest. Investigators discovered
the bludgeoned body of
Bryant’s wife shortly after the
lisappearance.
Police suspect Gary Michael
Hilton, a 61-year-old drifter, in
Ihe murders. Hilton received life
n prison on Jan. 31 after pleading
luilty to the December murder
of Georgia hiker Meredith
imerson.
Police are investigating
f Hilton is behind other
lisappearances and murders in
'iorth Carolina and Florida.
^resident
Jroposes largest
t)udget in history
President Bush proposed a
>51 trillion federal budget this
veek.
Both national and border
lOcurity programs would benefit
b most, while many domestic
programs would receive
Substantial cuts in funding.
The Department of Defense
*ould receive $515 billion, a
“Eure that does not include an
■stimated $200 billion for the
'urs in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Many domestic programs
"ould receive a cut in funding,
“deluding a $200 billion reduction
®r Medicare and Medicaid.
The budget, which would
“oost the federal deficit to $407
'"ion, is facing stiff opposition
“n Capitol Hill.
Total federal debt is expected
‘“exceed $12 trillion by 2013.
Compiled by Jon Walczak
Bulldogs exact revenge
UNC A wins first regular season game against Winthrop since 2000
Devon Dow
Contributing Writer
WDDOW@UNCA.EDU
Senior guard K.J. Garland
knows how to win in style.
The Greensboro native scored
26 points and dished eight assists
leading the Bulldogs to a 71-56
blowout against conference foe
Winthrop in front of a sold-out
crowd in the Justice Center.
“This was a big win for us,” said
Head Coach Eddie Biedenbach.
“We made some big shots in
the second half and played solid
defense throughout the game that
kept us in front of Winthrop. I am
very proud of this team.”
The Bulldogs (16-4, 7-0, BSC)
were without Kenny George who
sat out the entire game. At the half,
the Bulldogs trailed the Eagles
26-33. In the beginning of the
second half, the Bulldogs came
out on a 14-2 mn, preventing the
Eagles first field goal until eight
minutes into the second half
Winthrop (14-8,5-2 BSC) is ranked
No. 2 in the Big South Conference
and defeated then Top 25 ranked
Miami University during their non
conference schedule, but proved to
be no test for the Bulldogs.
“Beating Winthrop feels really
good,” Garland said. “We beat
them my freshman year in the
playoffs but never in the regular
season. The whole team just
played well together. We know
that we are a second half team, and
we knew that we had to pick up the
momentum and it worked for us.”
In the paint the Bulldogs stepped
up to fill the void left by George
with strong play from senior
forward Garret Moles, sophomore
forward Reid Augst and redshirt
freshman John Williams, who
made the student section in the
Justice Center erupt with each of
his three blocks and a fast break
dunk in the second half
“I thought Kenny was playing
down in the paint tonight,” Garland
said. “The way the ball kept coming
back away from the rim was
ridiculous. A lot of players, when
they go up against John, think that
they can out man him, but rarely is
that the case. He and the guys that
played down low did a great job.”
Senior guard Bryan Smithson
had another solid night for the
Bulldogs scoring 14 points,
grabbing six rebounds and four
steals. Senior forward Vincent
James was second for the Bulldogs
in scoring with 15 points.
“The coaches did a really good
job with the scouting report,”
Smithson said. “It was a great team
effort. We knew that we were going
to be without Kenny down low and
together we made some big plays
to get the win.”
As George sat the bench, the
Bulldogs wasted no time making
their presence felt in the paint. The
Bulldogs matched the Eagles’ six
blocked shots for the game.
“John made really strong
defensive strides in the game,
Smithson said. “When he is down
low he might be out-matched in
size, but he always makes up for it
with strength.”
With the Bulldogs up by 17
against the Eagles, Garland
silenced the Winthrop section of
the Justice Center with his fourth
3-pointer of the game, made as he
faded away with 3 seconds left on
the shot clock in the second half
“We went 7-0 the first half of
conference play, now its time to
start over,” Garland said. There is
no time for relaxing and we realize
Photo.s by Cunt Lathinguoush - Piiot(x;rai'hy tiniTOK
Above the Justice Center crowd gives love to fan-favorite John Williams while Special Assistant to the
Chancellor and former N.C. Rep. Wilma Sherrill waits to congratulate the freshman forward. Williams had
three blocks and one earth-shattering dunk in the win. Below, K J. Garland saves the ball to Williams.
that. We are the only undefeated
team in the Big South, so we have a
target on our back. It tough to beat
teams twice, so we will see what
happens one game at a time.”
It was the kind of night for the
Bulldogs where everything went
“K.J. showed out tonight,
Smithson said. “With him knowing
that I wasn’t 100 percent, for him
to shoot 9-11 from the field is just
incredible. He definitely deserves a
lot of respect after his performance
on the court.”
The Bulldogs travel to
Lynchburg, Va., on Feb. 9 where
they face the Liberty Flames. The
Bulldogs’ next home game comes
on Feb. 16 as the Bulldogs face the
VMI Keydets. The game will air
on Fox Sport South at 7 p.m.
“While it was a great victory
there is still a ways to go for our
team,” Biedenbach said. “Winthrop
is a good team, and we still have
to head down to Rock Hill to play
them. It was a fine job by our guys
tonight.”
The Justice Center was filled to
capacity once again with attendance
calculated at 1,198 people.
“Not only am 1 thrilled for the
coaches and players, I am so proud
of our student body support,” said
Janet Cone, athletic director. “The
student body presence is sorncthing
we have been working on for our
athletic events for the past four
years, and I am so proud of the turn
out by our students. They do not
realize how much their attendance
contributes to the victories that we
have.”
For fan reactions to the Winthrop
win and a history of the two team s
\ol. 18, Issue 8
Radio
station
prepares
for future
Emily Seibel
Staff Writer
ELSEIBEL@UNCA.EDU
The Blue Echo faces changes
with the graduation of station
manager Alex Bowser looming
near.
“I think there’s a lot ol
things that can really improve
in terms of incorporating with
the school because right now 1
feel like it’s a little bit isolated,”
said Bowser, senior multimedia
major.
Large improvements may be
I in the works for
The Blue FlcIio,
according to
Bowser. A
new location as
well as greater
[motivation
for students
to participate
would increase
— the number
involved in the
Alex Bowser
Ckhi)f;ntial.s
of students
project.
“Supposedly there is the
potential for some kind of
academic credit, and that would
be a good thing,” Bowser said.
“1 just heard of that being a
possibility.”
The location of T he Blue
Echo, downstairs in the
Ilighsmith Student Union,
causes problems for the station,
according to Bowser. Noise
problems affect olTices around
the station’s location.
“We are a noise pollutant in
11 ighsmithand it’s problematic,”
Bowser said. “We’re going
to take some steps to improve
on not bothering people. For
the time being, where we’re
Ski Echo Page 2 |
Students
conduct
research on
fatal disease
Rachel Letcher
Staff Writer
EMAILADDRESS@UNCA.EDU
Alzheimer’s disease
afflicts a new person every
72 seconds, according to the
Alzheimer’s Association, a fact
the UNC Asheville chemistry
undergraduate research program
is combating as they research
new ways to inhibit death rates
from the debilitating illness.
“It was always really
stressful for my family,” said
Caitlin Erwin, a senior literature
major who lost her grandfather
to Alzheimer’s disease in 2006.
“We had to watch him forget
and eventually die. My mom
just was not functioning as the
mother she wanted to be for
us.”
Watching a loved one suffer
from the disease was very
difficult, she said.
“On bad days, he had
an incredibly difficult time
communicating with us. He
was an extremely intelligent
man who could normally
See Study Page 2 |
Weather
Thur.sday
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Saturday
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Friday
54
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Sunday
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