UNC Asheville placed five players in double figures as the Bulldogs rallied past Buffalo, 101-90 in overtime, in men’s basketball on Dec. 29 at Justice Center.

UNCA (9-3) rallied from 14 points down in the second and outscored the Bulls, 21-10 in the overtime period, to give the home the win.

The Bulldogs used a huge disparity at the free throw line to rally for the victory. Asheville went 32-of-49 from the free throw line, while the Bulls were just 6-of-9 from the charity stripe.

 UNCA was led by Bryan Smithson’s 23 points. He had six assists and seven rebounds. Junior center Kenny George scored a career-high 21 points, collected 10 rebounds and blocked six shots. Reid Augst finished with 16 points. K.J. Garland chipped in 15 points and seven assists. Freshman John Williams enjoyed the first double-double of his college career with career-high 13 points and a career-best 14 rebounds.

Buffalo (6-6) had four players in double figures. Sean Smiley led the Bulls with 18 points. Calvin Betts contributed 16 points, all in the second half and overtime. He also collected 12 rebounds.

Andy Robinson had 14 points, while Rodney Pierce chipped in 13 points and eight rebounds.

“We beat a very good Buffalo team today,” UNCA coach Eddie Biedenbach said afterward.

“We’re off to a good start this year but this was a tremendous win to be down like we were to a well-coached team like Buffalo and be able to find a way to win. We got contributions from a lot of different people today.”

UB led 71-57 with eight minutes left as Betts scored 12 points in the first 10 minutes of the half to help give the Bulls the 14-point lead.

UNCA began to rally behind the play of George and Smithson. The duo led the Bulldogs on an 18-6 run to carve the UB lead to 77-75. The two combined for 12 points during the run.

Smiley sank a three to give the Bulls an 80-75 lead at the 2:49 mark before the Bulldogs scored the final five points of regulation to tie the game at 80-80.

George scored on a three-point play off an assist from Garland to cut the lead to 80-78. After two misses by the Bulls, Augst was fouled while getting a defensive rebound with 42 seconds left. He made both to knot the game at 80-80.

Betts missed a three-pointer with 17 seconds remaining, and Garland came down with the rebound. He brought the ball down and put up a long trey as the buzzer sounded but missed as the teams headed into overtime.

In overtime, the Bulldogs took the lead for good when George scored on a dunk. UNCA led 90-87 after Betts scored on a lay-up with 1:17 left before the Bulldogs finished the game on an 11-3 run.

The run began with a tip-in from George to make it 92-87. The Bulldogs went 7-of-8 from the charity stripe in the final 35 seconds to pull out the victory.

UB dominated the first half as the Bulls got at least six points from five different players to post a 42-33 halftime lead.

Buffalo led 25-10 midway through the half before Smithson scored 10 points in the final nine minutes of the half to cut the lead to 39-33. Brian Addison then hit his first three-pointer of the year as buzzer sounded to give the Bulls the nine-point lead.

The win was the Bulldogs first of the year when they trailed at halftime.

In addition, UNCA went over the century mark in points for the first time since the 2002-03 season, when the Bulldogs defeated Montreat 102-73.

Kenny George continued to sizzle, as he blocked six shots and now has 105 in his career, while Williams’ 14 rebounds are the most by a UNCA player since Joey Harrell grabbed 14 at VMI last season.

The game marked UNCA’s first win over a MAC opponent and a team from the state of New York.