UNC Asheville placed five players in double figures as the Bulldogs rolled to their fourth straight with a hard-fought 82-63 win over visiting Radford in Big South Conference action last Wednesday night before a sell-out crowd of 1,159 at Justice Center.

The Bulldogs (15-4, 4-0 BSC) won for 10th time in their last 12 games. Radford fell to 5-14 overall and 0-4 in the league. UNCA is off to its best start in league play since the 2001-02 season.

Kenny George led the Bulldogs with 17 points, hitting 8-of-12 from the field. Reid Augst finished with 14 points, while Bryan Smithson and K.J. Garland added 12 points each. Vincent James chipped in 10 points.

The Highlanders were led by Martel McDuffy’s game-high 19 points. Joey Lynch-Flohr pumped in 13 points. Amir Johnson scored 10 points, grabbed seven rebounds and had six assists.

UNCA registered 25 assists in the game. Of that total, K.J. Garland dished out seven assists, moving him into second place on the school’s career assist list with 437. Smithson added six assists.
In addition, the Bulldogs blocked three shots in the game to give them a season-total of 144 breaking last year’s mark of 142.

“We did the job tonight against a well-coached Radford squad,” UNC Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach said in post-game comments. “We just could never put them away until late in the game and you have to give Radford credit for that.

“I thought our guys played hard and competed. We got a nice balanced scoring effort tonight and that what it’s going to take to win.”

The Bulldogs shot a season-high 64 percent (32-of-50) from the field. UNCA has now shot at or better than 50 percent in 13 of its 19 games this season.
The Bulldogs led 51-44 with 10 minutes left before going on a 20-8 run over the next five minutes to

push to a 71-52 lead. Garland had 10 of his 12 points in the run and hit two treys. He also had two assists during the run. The senior guard began the run with a long three-pointer with the shot clock running down and ended the run with a trey from the right side.

In the first half, Radford hung in the game, mainly as as the result of 10 points scored by McDuffy. He knocked down two long treys and went 4-for-4 from the free throw line. UNCA built a six-point lead twice only to see the Highlanders come back and tie the game each time.

Tied at 25-25 with three minutes to go in the half, UNCA put together a 9-1 run to take a 34-26 halftime lead. Smithson, who scored all 12 of his points in the opening half, had five points in the run and George scored on lay-up to give the Bulldogs an eight-point halftime margin.

UNCA shot 65 percent (13-of-20) from the field in the first half, while Radford shot 36 percent (8-of-22) from the field. The Bulldogs had command of the glass with an 18-8 advantage.