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Kenny George led UNCA with 15 points.

CONWAY, S.C. — Kenny George scored a game-high 15 points to go along with seven rebounds and six blocked shots to lead UNC Asheville to a hard fought 56-52 victory at Coastal Carolina last Monday night.

UNCA (17-4, 6-0 Big South) led the entire second half, but George was big in the key moments of the game.

Steven Sexton hit the penultimate of Coastal Carolina’s (9-10, 2-4 Big South) 10 three-pointers in the game to trim UNCA’s lead to 48-47 with 4:01 left to play.

The Bulldogs then got the ball to George on the low block, where he was fouled with 3:41 left. After the media timeout, George calmly knocked down both free throws to put the Dogs back up by three.

After a CCU miss from long range, George again got the ball down low and hit a right-handed hook shot to build the lead back to five points with 2:52 left. Bryan Smithson, who finished with 11 points, hit a jumper at the 1:50 mark to complete the 6-0 run.

Sexton, one of four Chanticleers to finish with eight points, hit the final three-pointer of the night to make it a four-point game with 53 ticks remaining.

UNCA once again went to George down low and again he converted to make the score 56-50.
With 9.9 seconds left, Coastal decided to forgo another three-pointer as Chad Ferguson scored on a lay-up with six seconds left, but the Chanticleers would get no closer.

K.J. Garland scored 12 points in the game including the first five points of the second half. He also added eight rebounds for the Bulldogs, who opened up a 25-21 halftime lead with four straight points to open the second period to take their largest lead 29-21.

UNCA would lead by eight points three times in the second half, but never by more.

Coastal’s largest lead of the game was 10-5 at the 13:30 mark of the first half. Asheville took the lead for good on a Smithson three-pointer, 16-13, with 8:09 left in the half.

Logan Johnson led Coastal with 11 points and eight rebounds. The Chanticleers were 10-for-35 from three-point range while going just 9-for-31 from inside the three-point arc.

The Bulldogs shot 43.8 percent from the floor as both teams were playing their second game in three days.
Next, UNCA will put its unbeaten conference record on the line against once-beaten Winthrop in a first-place showdown in Justice Center at 4:30 p.m. Saturday. The game is sold out, UNCA noted.