UNC Asheville Wins BSC Championship
No. 3 seed UNC Asheville led from start to finish and held off a late rally to pull away with a 60-47 win over the No. 1 seeded Coastal Carolina Chanticleers and capture the 2011 Advance Auto Parts Big South Men's Basketball Championship Saturday at Kimbel Arena. With the win, UNC Asheville (18-13) wins its second Big South Tournament title and receives the Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Coastal Carolina, the Big South regular-season champion, falls to 28-5 and will represent the Big South in the NIT. The Bulldogs are the second consecutive No. 3 seed to win the Big South Tournament and third overall. Chris Stephenson scored a game-high 14 points to lead four UNC Asheville players in double figures. Jaron Lane added 13 off the bench, while Matt Dickey scored 12. John Williams tallied 10 points, nine rebounds and blocked a Championship Game-record six shots. Coastal Carolina was led by Sam McLaurin's double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds. Chad Gray scored 13, while Anthony Raffa had 12. The Chanticleers were hampered by 21 turnovers, which led to 29 points for Asheville. Asheville jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the first four minutes before the Chanticleers made it a two-point game at the 15:00 minute mark. Dickey then scored four-straight points to start an 11-4 run for the Bulldog, and buckets from Toles Hartman, Stephenson and a three-pointer from Primm pushed Asheville's lead to 19-8 at the 9:30 mark. Raffa countered with his first three-pointer of the game to cut the deficit to eight points and Gray added a dunk to make the score 19-13 with 6:45 remaining in the first half. After Williams and Stephenson connected on back-to-back field goals to put Asheville ahead by 10 (23-13), Danny Nieman's two free throws and Brandon Crawford's three-pointer brought the Chanticleers back to within five points with 3:56 left. The teams traded baskets the rest of the way until Williams dunked home a Stephenson miss for the eventual 29-22 halftime score. Primm and McLaurin led all scorers at the break with seven points each. Williams and Stephenson had six points apiece for the Bulldogs. Williams also had four of Asheville's seven blocks in the first 20 minutes. Crawford was next on the scoring chart for Coastal with five points, and also had seven first-half rebounds, including four on the offensive glass. Asheville was 13-of-29 shooting from the floor ( =44.8 percent), while Coastal was limited to 7-of-24 from the field ( =29.2 percent). Coastal had a 21-15 advantage on the glass. In the second half, Coastal Carolina cut Asheville's lead to four points on two occasions in the first seven minutes and started inching closer to taking its first lead of the day. Raffa's layup in the middle of the lane made the score 37-33 at the 12:50 mark, and he answered another Williams dunk with a three-pointer from the corner that brought the Chants to within two points at 39-37 with 11:28 remaining. Coastal would get to within two again on McLaurin's free throws at 9:23 (41-39), but that would be the closest the Chanticleers would get. Gray's layup with 4:19 remaining made it a three-point game at 50-47, but Dickey sparked a game-ending 10-0 run with a key three-pointer with 1:38 on the clock to push the Bulldogs to the crown. Asheville finished the game 24-of-61 from the field ( =39.3 percent) and limited Coastal to just 16-of-47 field goals ( =34.0 percent). Dickey was voted Tournament MVP and was joined on the All-Tournament Team by teammates Primm and Williams, while Coastal's trio of Gray, Raffa and McLaurin also earned spots on the squad. Asheville captures its second NCAA Tournament berth and first since 2003. The Bulldogs will be making their second postseason appearance in four seasons, as Asheville participated in the 2008 NIT. Coastal Carolina becomes the first Big South team to advance to the NIT twice, and it will mark the fourth consecutive season that the Big South will have two teams playing in the postseason. UNC Asheville Head Coach Eddie Biedenbach: 'Tournament time is a really special time. It's a time when your team comes together and it has been a hard week. Three games this week. Three games last week. We've got better and better on defense and this became a real defensive battle. There is a lot of really good offensive players on each team out there and all had trouble scoring. The intensity and the good positioning on the defensive end all night long made it really tough for anybody to look really good on the offensive side. 'I give a lot of credit to Coastal. They've been through a lot with the loss of a few players and a couple injuries. Coastal has had a great year and they are a great team. Cliff (Ellis) has done a great job coaching them.' Tournament MVP Matt Dickey: 'This is an unbelievable feeling. Last week, we came down here and hit that big shot. That was an incredible feeling and the coaches kept telling us if you win the championship, it'll be a million times better. They hit the nail on the head. They were exactly right.' Coastal Carolina Head Coach Cliff Ellis: 'First off, a great hard fought game, congratulations to UNC Asheville. It was a hard fought game and it got away from us in the last three to four minutes. The turnovers turned into easy baskets and Asheville was able to make some easy lay-ups. 'I'm proud of our team. This is not what we wanted, but I cannot say enough about those eight guys that went out on the court. Their season is not over. I wanted this for them more than I wanted this for me. But, it does not take away what this team has been through and what they have accomplished. It truly has been a remarkable season. When you look at 28 wins and what this team has been through, it would have climaxed if we could pull this one out and a great story to remember. We will move on with pride and look forward to playing in the NIT.' Courtesy of Big South Conf. BSC Summary 2010-11 Big South Conf. Tournament Final: UNC Asheville - Coastal Carolina 60-47 Big South Conf. Tournament Semifinals: Coastal Carolina - VMI 89-81 UNC Asheville - High Point 62-45
Player of the Year: Jesse Sanders (6'3''-G) of Liberty All-Tournament MVP: Matt Dickey (6'1''-G) of NC-Asheville Defensive Player of the Year: Kelvin Martin (6'5''-F-89) of Charleston So. Freshman of the Year: D.J. Covington (6'9''-F/C) of VMI Student-Athlete of the Year: Walt Allen (6'4''-F-87) of Presbyterian Coach of the Year: Dale Layer of Liberty 1st Team G: Jesse Sanders (6'3'') of Liberty G: Austin Kenon (5'11'') of VMI F: Chad Gray (6'7'') of S.Carolina G: Jamarco Warren (5'11''-88) of Charleston So. G: Matt Dickey (6'1'') of NC-Asheville 2nd Team G: Nick Barbour (6'3''-89) of High Point F: Kelvin Martin (6'5''-89) of Charleston So. G/F: John Brown (6'4''-89) of Roane State JC G: J.P. Primm (6'1'') of NC-Asheville G: Evan Gordon (6'2'') of Liberty All-Tournament Team Matt Dickey (6'1''-G) of NC-Asheville J.P. Primm (6'1''-G) of NC-Asheville John Williams (6'4''-F) of NC-Asheville Chad Gray (6'7''-F) of S.Carolina Anthony Raffa (6'0''-G) of Albany Sam McLaurin (6'6''-F) of Co.Carolina All-Freshman Team D.J. Covington (6'9''-F/C) of VMI Sheldon Strickland (6'0''-G) of Charleston So. Luke Davis (6'0''-G) of Gardner-Webb Rodney Glasgow (5'10''-G) of VMI Jareal Smith (6'3''-G) of Radford All-Academic Team Sam McLaurin (6'6''-F) of Co.Carolina Jonathan Moore (6'4''-G/F) of Gardner-Webb David Campbell (6'4''-G-88) of High Point Jeremy Anderson (6'4''-G) of Liberty Walt Allen (6'4''-F-87) of Presbyterian Evan Faulkner (6'1''-G) of Radford Matt Dickey (6'1''-G) of NC-Asheville | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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