 |  |
Second Half Rally Lifts UNC Asheville Over Furman, 75-67
Dec. 2, 2006
Greenville, S.C. - Vincent James came off of the bench to pour in 22 points as UNC Asheville rallied past Furman 75-67 in men's basketball action Saturday afternoon at Timmons Arena in Greenville, S.C.
The Bulldogs, who outscored Furman 41-28 in the second half, erased a three point deficit and opened up a six point lead with a 9-0 run late in the second period. Trailing 62-59, James drove to the basket for short jumper and converted the three-point play at the foul line before draining a jumper in the paint to give the Bulldogs a 64-62 lead with 5:35 remaining. Brett Warner converted a put back on an offensive rebound and Bryan Smithson scored on a driving layup to extend the lead to 68-62 with 2:46 left.
After a Gerad Punch basket, UNCA pushed the run to 14-2 by connecting on 5-of-6 attempts at the charity strip in the final minute to up the lead to 73-64. Furman scored just five points in the final six minutes of play and converted only two field goal attempts in the final 7:45.
"I thought we were not emotionally where we needed to be today and did not think we handled the success of the Vanderbilt win very well," said Furman coach Jeff Jackson. "Our defensive intensity was not at the level it needed to be and we missed a total of 45 shots tonight on the offensive end."
Furman managed to shoot just 32.8% (22-67) from the field, including only 8-of-27 beyond the arc. The Paladins were 10-of-33 from the floor in the second half. UNC Asheville shot 49.2% (30-61) from the field on the strength of a 16-of-28 (57.1%) effort in the second half.
Furman raced out to a 7-2 lead in the first half with dunks from Moussa Diagne and Stanley Jones. The Paladins led 26-15 with 7:45 left in the first half and maintained a 10 point advantage at 32-22 with just 3:16 left in the period. The Bulldogs rallied to trim the deficit to 39-34 as Reid Augst buried a three-pointer from deep in the left corner at the buzzer. Furman opened up a 52-44 second half lead before an 8-0 UNCA run tied the game with 11:34 remaining.
James hit 10-of-15 shots from the floor and converted 2-of-3 free throws to lead the Bulldogs. Smithson finished with 13 points and K.J.. Garland added 12 points and six rebounds.
Eric Webb tallied 18 points on 5-of-9 shooting from long range and 3-for-4 at the foul line. Diagne totaled 12 points while Punch notched 12 points and six boards. Leading scoring Robby Bostain grabbed 10 rebounds for Furman, but was held to a season-low four points.
The Bulldogs (3-4) outscored Furman 42-22 in the paint. The UNCA bench scored 35 points while Furman's bench chipped in 15 points in the loss.
UNCA is back in action Monday when it travels to Charlotte for an 8:30 p.m. contest. Furman (4-3) continues its three-game homestand hosting USC Aiken at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at Timmons Arena.
