ASHEVILLE, N.C. - For the second straight game, the VMI basketball team fell to a hot-shooting second-half squad, especially beyond the three-point arc.
Bryan McCullough scored a career-high 23 points and also picked up his 1,000th career point as UNC Asheville downed VMI, 87-77 in Big South Conference action at Justice Center Saturday afternoon.
The win by the Bulldogs (4-11, 1-3 BSC) snapped a six-game Asheville losing streak. The Keydets (5-8, 0-3 BSC) lost for the sixth straight time.
VMI sophomore guard Matt Coward scored a career-high 23 points, but it wasn't enough to stop the losing skid.
McCullough, a senior forward from Salisbury, N.C., went 10-of-16 from the field and also grabbed a season-high nine rebounds. He scored his 1,000th career point on a 3-pointer midway through the second half. He became the 21st player in school history to score 1,000 points. McCullough now has 1,004 career points and is in 20th place on the all-time career list at Asheville.
Junior forward Oliver Holmes also had a great game as he tied a career-high in points with 21 and collected a career-best nine rebounds. Holmes was 5-of-7 from beyond the arc. Freshman forward Brett Warner scored eight points and grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds.
VMI was led by Matt Coward with a season-high 23 points, while Reggie Williams added 17 points. Levar Joseph finished with 10 points.
"We really needed to get this win," stated Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach. "We played hard today and did a good job shooting the ball in the second half. I liked our effort on the boards, as well.
"VMI is a well-coached team and gave us everything we wanted today," added Biedenbach.
"We've got to realize that our bread and butter is inside and we're going to work really hard on that," said VMI coach Bart Bellairs. "We should have more assists as a team. They had 18 offensive rebounds and we have to be more physical. Our guys continue to fight. We did some things better, but we didn't do enough things better."
The Bulldogs led for most of the game and led by nine late in the first half only to have the Keydets go on a 12-2 run to end the half and take a 38- 37 halftime lead on a jumper from Coward as the first-half horn sounded.
But Asheville quickly took control of the game to start the second half. The Bulldogs got five points from Omar Collington and a trey from Holmes to go on an 8-0 run to push Asheville in front, 45-38.
VMI stayed close and cut the lead to one three times and was within four at 70-66 on a dunk from Williams with 6:12 left. But the Bulldogs went on a 12-3 run, triggered by treys from Steven Rush, McCullough and Holmes to put the game away at 81-69. A Rush trey with the shot-clock winding down at the 2:41 mark gave the Bulldogs their biggest lead.
The Bulldogs dominated the boards on the day as they outrebounded the Keydets, 48-30. UNCA knocked down 56.7 percent (17-of-30) of its field goal attempts in the second half and was 7-of-11 from long distance. Holmes was 4-of-5 from beyond the arc in the second half.
The Bulldogs dished out 21 assists as sophomore guard K.J. Garland had six assists, while Oliver Holmes and Steven Rush had five assists each. Sophomore center C.J. Walker finished with four blocked shots.
Coward set career high in points with 23 and was 8-of-17 from the field, 7-of-9 from the free throw line and dished out five assists. VMI went 24-of-32 from the free throw line for 75 percent. However, the Keydets struggled from the 3-point line as they shot just 20 percent, going 3-of-15.
The Bulldogs head to Birmingham-Southern Monday night for an 8 p.m. game with the preseason favorite Panthers. VMI hosts Radford Wednesday night starting at 7 p.m. It will be VMI's lone game over the next nine days.
KEYDET NOTES - The 77 points tied the second most in a game this season by VMI, equaling the 77 against Bluefield College on Dec. 13...The 11 turnovers was a season-low, but the nine assists marked the third straight game VMI had more turnovers than assists...The 87 points by UNCA was the most given up by VMI this year...Coward's 23 points snapped a three-game string of non-double figures games...the Keydets continued to shoot well from the line, going 24-32 and setting season highs in both categories.
(Portions of story courtesy UNCA Sports Information)
