UNCG-Davidson Box Score
Box Score
CHATTANOOGA, TN – Josh Gross scored a career-high 22 points, his first 20-point effort in 110 career games, as UNC Greensboro knocked off Davidson, 73-68, in the semifinal round of the 2005 Kyocera Southern Conference Men's Basketball Tournament on Friday night at McKenzie Arena, snapping Davidson's 16-game winning streak.
Along with snapping the third-longest winning streak in the nation currently, the Spartans also snapped a seven-game losing streak against Davidson (21-8). UNCG's last win against the Wildcats came in the 2001 Southern Conference Semifinals. UNCG went onto win the Southern Conference title that season, advancing to the NCAA Tournament.
Davidson, the top seed out of the South Division, won the lone regular season meeting, 78-69, in Greensboro. The loss was one of two for UNCG, the second-seed out of the North Division, at home all season long.
Ronnie Burrell added 14 points, including a pair of free throws with 12 seconds to play to put the game away. Kyle Hines, the 2005 Southern Conference Freshman of the Year, added 10 points, six rebounds and three blocks. He now has 101 blocks this season, equaling the Southern Conference single-season record for blocks held by Western Carolina's Rans Brempong.
Ray Bristow also added 11 points for UNCG (18-11).
“The run Davidson had is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen, so I think to beat them this year speaks of the talent of this team,” said UNCG coach Fran McCaffery. “Our defense is the best we've played since I have been at UNCG. Our guys showed tremendous focus tonight. You know that Davidson is going to make a run and they did.”
“This team has tremendous heart,” said Gross, a senior from Columbia, MD who also had 11 rebounds. “When we were down by eight, we weren't going to panic.”
Both teams seemed to come out tight, struggling on the offensive end at the outset. But when things settled down, UNCG got red-hot and jumped out to a 12-point lead at the midpoint of the first half. Gross' eight points off the bench in the early going got UNCG out to a 21-9 lead. The Spartans shot 5-for-10 from three-point range for the first half and wound up with a five-point lead at the intermission, 31-26.
In addition to knocking down three-pointers, the Spartans shutdown 2005 SoCon Player of the Year Brendan Winters for the first 20 minutes. Winters was held to just two points, those coming on a pair of free throws, in the first half.
But Davidson, who will certainly be in contention for an NIT bid, came out of the locker room and scored 10 of the first 12 points of the second half to retake the lead, 36-33, with Winters scoring eight of those. Eventually, the Wildcats stretched the lead to eight, 48-40, as UNCG made just three of its first 10 shots from the field to open the half.
The Spartans battled back. Sparked by a Josh Gross three-pointer, UNCG scored the next six points to get back to within two, 48-46, with 10:05 to play.
UNCG regained the lead with 7:46 to play when Kyle Hines drove the baseline, scored and was fouled. He converted the conventional three-point play to cap a 9-2 Spartan run and give his team a 55-53 lead.
The game became a see-saw affair from there. Over the final eight minutes, the lead changed hands seven times. Winters, who finished with a team-high 19 points, tied the game 66-66 with a reverse lay-up around and outstretched Kyle Hines. But Gross responded with his fourth three-pointer of the game, knocking it down from the right corner to give UNCG a three-point lead with 1:31 to play. That was a lead UNCG would not relinquish.
After Logan Kosmalski hit two free throws for Davidson, Ricky Hickman knocked down a jumper with 27 seconds left. Kosmalski missed a three-pointer and Davidson was forced to foul. Burrell knocked down a pair and UNCG was on its way to the finals for the second time under McCaffery.
AGATE
UNC GREENSBORO (18-11)
GROSS, Josh 8-10 2-2 22; BURRELL, Ronnie 5-12 4-4 14; BRISTOW, Ray 4-10 1-2 11; HINES, Kyle 4-9 2-4 10; HICKMAN, Ricky 3-10 1-2 8; OLEKSIAK, Kevin 0-1 6-6 6; JOHNSON, Dwayne 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 25-54 16-20 73.
DAVIDSON (21-8)
WINTERS, Brendan 4-7 8-10 19; JOHNSON, Ian 7-15 2-2 17; KOSMALSKI, Logan 4-9 2-4 11; MORTON, Jason 3-9 2-2 9; GRANT, Kenny 2-8 2-3 7; MCKILLOP, Matt 1-7 0-0 3; GRACE, Conor 1-4 0-0 2; BLANCETT, Eric 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-60 16-21 68.
Halftime: UNCG, 31-26. 3-point goals-UNC Greensboro 7-16 (GROSS, Josh 4-6; BRISTOW, Ray 2-2; HICKMAN, Ricky 1-4; OLEKSIAK, Kevin 0-1; JOHNSON, Dwayne 0-1; HINES, Kyle 0-1; BURRELL, Ronnie 0-1), Davidson 8-27 (WINTERS, Brendan 3-5; MCKILLOP, Matt 1-5; GRANT, Kenny 1-5; MORTON, Jason 1-6; KOSMALSKI, Logan 1-2; JOHNSON, Ian 1-2; BLANCETT, Eric 0-1; GRACE, Conor 0-1). Fouled out—UNC Greensboro-HINES, Kyle, Davidson-None. Rebounds-UNC Greensboro 31 (GROSS, Josh 11), Davidson 39 (KOSMALSKI, Logan 10). Assists-UNC Greensboro 10 (BURRELL, Ronnie 4), Davidson 14 (MCKILLOP, Matt 4; GRANT, Kenny 4). Total fouls-UNC Greensboro 18, Davidson 17.
– UNCG –
