Bow-WOW! UNC Asheville Bulldogs make noise in NCAA tourney with first round overtime win; Coach Biedenbach declares ‘We don’t have any quit in this team’

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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UNC Asheville’s men’s basketball team Tuesday night pulled out one heckuva first round win in the NCAA Tournament with an overtime win against Arkansas-Little Rock. UNCA star Matt Dickey hit a fantastic 3-pointer with time running out in regulation to tie the game. Then, with Little Rock’s two star players on the bench after fouling out, UNCA took control in overtime and sealed the victory. It was a great start to another great tournament.

From foxnews.com:

Matt Dickey and North Carolina-Asheville injected a little customary March drama into the NCAA’s new-look tournament.

Dickey led a late run that brought overtime, and J.P. Primm hit five free throws and had a decisive steal in the closing seconds Tuesday night, sending UNC Asheville to an 81-77 victory over Arkansas-Little Rock in a dramatic “First Four” opener.

“We don’t have any quit in this team,” UNC Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach said.

From bleacherreport.com:

Matt Dickey was the star of the show for Asheville, scoring 22 points and 14 of the last 18 points for the Bulldogs in regulation.

This is the second tournament victory for Asheville – the first was in 2003 when they beat Texas Southern in a play-in game.

Next up, the Bulldogs get to play No. 1 seed Pitt on Thursday afternoon. They can at least take comfort in knowing that they will go down in the record books with an NCAA Tournament victory because they won’t get a second one.

From the Asheville Citizen-Times:

“I couldn’t be prouder of our team, how we handled ourselves,” said Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach.

“We didn’t give up and put ourselves into a position to win at the end. We’ve had great, great play from Dickey and Primm all year, and we got it again tonight. They won the game for us.”

In a battle of No. 16 seeds, Asheville added to its list of firsts in March — first team invited to the Big Dance, played in the first game and first to win a game.

In their first and only other NCAA tournament appearance in 2003, the Bulldogs beat Texas Southern 92-84 in overtime in the play-in game at Dayton.

The Bulldogs (20-13) advance to the field of 64 and will play Southeast Region top seed Pittsburgh (27-5) at 3:10 p.m. Thursday at the Verizon Center in Washington.