Tuesday, November 27, 2007

DESPITE MOORE’S 32, UNC ASHEVILLE BEATS TUSCULUM 84-73

ASHEVILLE, N.C. --- Bryan Smithson accounted for 26 points and five assists to lead the UNC Asheville men’s basketball team to an 84-73 win over visiting Tusculum College Tuesday night at the Justice Center.

Tusculum’s Kyle Moore led all scorers with a career-high 32 points as he shot 13-for-21 from the floor, including 6-of-10 from three-point territory.

Smithson accounted for 17 of his 26 points in the opening half, while Moore also posted 17 markers in the first 20 minutes.

Tusculum came out firing as the Pioneers jumped out to a 14-4 lead in the opening seven minutes, sparked by seven markers by Moore. UNCA answered with nine straight points, capped off by a lay-up and three-pointer by Smithson to trim the deficit to 14-13 with 10:32 left before halftime.

The Pioneers fell into early foul trouble as Tusculum forwards Jordan Lear and Lavonti Jeter and Moore each picked up a pair of fouls in the first 10 minutes.

The Bulldogs gained their first lead of the contest at the 9:16 mark following two free throws by Smithson. The game would be tied two more times in the period following lay-ups by Marko Kostic and Darren Hobbs. Moore and Smithson traded three-pointers on back-to-back possessions as the contest was knotted at 23-23.

With UNCA leading 28-25, Moore posted a driving lay-up and his third trey of the period to move the Pioneers out front again at 31-28 with 3:35 remaining.

Hobbs gave Tusculum a 34-33 lead with a free throw with 58.1 seconds left before the intermission, Smith canned a pair of three-pointers in the final 44 seconds, including a 23-footer at the buzzer to send the home team into the locker room with a 39-34 advantage.

In the second half, UNCA opened up a 61-47 lead with 11 minutes remaining in the game following a steal and a lay-up by K.J. Garland. But Tusculum would whittle away the deficit with a 13-2 spurt, sparked by eight points from Moore and a basket and free throw by Jeter as the Pioneers trailed 63-60 with 5:43 left.

Asheville responded with a 7-2 run over the next 1:11 thanks to five markers from Garland as UNCA led 70-62 with 4:34 remaining in the fray. Hobbs drained a three-pointer from the left side to trail 70-65, but that’s as close as the Pioneers would get.

The Bulldogs finished off the game with a 12-2 spurt, capped off by a dunk by John Williams giving UNCA their biggest lead of the night at 84-69 with 45 seconds left.

Garland finished with 15 points, nine assists and three steals for UNCA, while James and Williams posted 13 and 12 points, respectively.

Jeter tallied 13 points, while Hobbs added 11 points and six rebounds in the loss for Tusculum.

UNCA out-shot the Pioneers 56 percent to 48 percent from the floor, but TC won the rebounding war by a 33-28 margin. Tusculum shot 42 percent from the free throw line (10-24), including 7-for-19 in the second half (36.8%).

Tusculum (1-4) returns to action Saturday when it travels to Brevard College for a 4 p.m. non-conference contest.

- TC –

Newspaper Box Score

Tusculum vs UNC Asheville

11/27/07 7:00 p.m. at Asheville, N.C./ Justice Center

At Asheville, N.C./ Justice Center

UNC ASHEVILLE 84, TUSCULUM 73

TUSCULUM (1-4)

Moore, Kyle 13-21 0-0 32; Jeter, Lavonti 4-6 5-7 13; Hobbs, Darren 4-8 2-5 11; Boone, Jimmy 3-10 2-3 9; Lear, Jordan 1-3 0-0 3; Troutman, Ryan 1-4 0-2 2; Kostic, Marko 1-2 0-1 2; Troutman, Robert 0-1 1-6 1; Zalucki, Rob 0-0 0-0 0; Cain, Emory 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-56 10-24 73.

UNC ASHEVILLE (6-1)

SMITHSON, Bryan 9-12 5-6 26; GARLAND, K.J. 5-13 3-4 15; JAMES, Vincent 4-10 4-4 13; WILLIAMS, John 3-3 6-10 12; SMITH, Sean 3-4 0-0 8; MOLES, Garrett 4-4 0-0 8; AUGST, Reid 0-2 2-2 2; STUBBS, Eric 0-0 0-2 0; RIDENHOUR, Jason 0-1 0-0 0; DAVIS, Brandon 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-50 20-28 84.

Tusculum...................... 34 39 - 73

UNC Asheville................. 39 45 - 84

3-point goals--Tusculum 9-25 (Moore, Kyle 6-10; Boone, Jimmy 1-5; Hobbs, Darren 1-4; Lear, Jordan 1-3; Troutman, Robert 0-1; Cain, Emory 0-1; Troutman, Ryan 0-1), UNC Asheville 8-16 (SMITHSON, Bryan 3-6; GARLAND, K.J. 2-5; SMITH, Sean 2-2; JAMES, Vincent 1-1; RIDENHOUR, Jason 0-1; AUGST, Reid 0-1). Fouled out--Tusculum-Lear, Jordan, UNC Asheville-JAMES, Vincent. Rebounds--Tusculum 33 (Hobbs, Darren 6), UNC Asheville 28 (MOLES, Garrett 7). Assists--Tusculum 17 (Boone, Jimmy 4; Troutman, Ryan 4), UNC Asheville 21 (GARLAND, K.J. 9). Total fouls--Tusculum 22, UNC Asheville 18. Technical fouls--Tusculum-None, UNC Asheville-None. A-869