The youngest team in the country gave the team with the highest scoring margin of victory in the country a battle, but it was No. 8/9 Auburn that secured a 67-41 victory over visiting UNC Asheville before a crowd of 7,121 at Auburn Arena on Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2018.
The 67 points surrendered by the Bulldogs and scored by Auburn against Asheville was its lowest point total of the 2018-19 season.
Auburn (7-1) scored the first points of the game, but the game was tied 2-2 early after a Jeremy Peck bucket in the post for the Bulldogs.
After a Tajion Jones three-pointer with 14:43 to play in the opening half of action the Bulldogs (1-7) and Auburn would be all tied up at 5-5.
The Tigers would go on a 12-0 run over the next few minutes, but a Luke Lawson trey with 7:45 left in the first stanza would pull the Bulldogs back within nine at 17-8. Lawson would knock down another three-pointer shortly thereafter to set the score at 17-11 in favor of Auburn with under seven left in the first half.
The two teams would keep battling over the next few minutes with the Bulldog defense holding Auburn without a field goal for over three minutes at one point. After a DeVon Bakerjumper with 3:59 left in the first half the Bulldogs trailed the Tigers by just seven at 20-13.
From there Auburn would close the half on a run to own a 33-18 advantage at the halftime break.
The Bulldogs held Auburn to just 37 percent (10-of-27) shooting in the first half. Asheville connected on 40 percent (4-of-10) of its three-point attempts in the first half.
Lawson had two of Asheville’s four treys at intermission with Coty Jude and Jones each having one trey at the break.
After Auburn started the second half on a 19-4 run a Donovan Gilmore mid-range jumper from the corner allowed the Bulldogs to cut the Tiger lead to 52-24 with 11:36 remaining in the game.
The Bulldogs would keep fighting the rest of the game with Deacon Heath and Lawson hitting three-pointers late to leave the eighth-ranked Tigers with the 26-point win.
Lawson led UNC Asheville with nine points off the bench. Jude had eight in the game for the Bulldogs.
Austin Wiley led Auburn in its win with a game-high 14 points.
UNC Asheville finished the game shooting 31.1 percent (14-of-45), while Auburn shot 47.9 percent (23-of-48).
The Bulldogs finished the game shooting 75 percent (6-of-8) from the free throw line.
BULLDOG BITES
Bulldogs Hold No.8 To Lowest Point Total
Auburn had entered the game with UNC Asheville owning the largest scoring margin of victory in the entire country, but the Bulldogs held the Tigers to their lowest point total of the season. Auburn had scored 101 against South Alabama, 88 against Washington, 103 against Mississippi College, 88 against Xavier, 73 against Arizona and 99 against Saint Peter’s. Even in their lone loss to Duke, Auburn had scored 72.
Balanced Attack
Nine different Bulldogs scored in the game with the No. 8 team in the country.
Career-Best
Luke Lawson’s nine points in the game with Auburn were a career-best for the freshman.
Up Next
On Saturday, Dec. 8, UNC Asheville will welcome mountain rival Western Carolina to Kimmel Arena. The game is scheduled for a 5:30 p.m. start on Saturday.
The contest will be the first between the two at Kimmel Arena since the Bulldogs picked up a thrilling 59-57 win over the Catamounts on Dec. 17, 2016.
Box Score: https://uncabulldogs.com/boxscore.aspx?path=mbball&id=5064
