GREENSBORO, NC – After a sluggish first half, UNC Greensboro opened the second half with a 32-8 run to pull away from Greensboro College for an 84-63 win in exhibition men's basketball action at Fleming Gym on Tuesday night.
The Spartans used 14 players and 12 of them hit the scoring column. Freshman Daniel Oliver, an Orlando, FL native, knocked down all six of his shots from the floor to come off the bench with 13 points. All-American candidate Kyle Hines led the Spartans with 14 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the floor.
UNCG shot 76 percent from the floor in the second half to blow the game wide open after its Division III neighbors forged a 32-32 break at the intermission. Adam Nicholson had 14 points for Greensboro College, 12 of which came in the first half. Bruce Zamuel chipped in with 13 points for the Pride.
“We didn't rebound as well as I had hoped,” said UNCG coach Mike Dement. “We know that Kyle can rebound on the defensive glass. But we've talked a lot this pre-season about some other guys hitting the glass and taking some of that off of him so that he can run the floor. I think you saw some of that in the second half. We were able to get Kyle down the floor and hit him in transition because some other people got on the glass and got us going.”
The Spartans, using a starting line-up that did not include Hines, started slowly. UNCG missed its first six shots of the game and didn't get on the board until a backdoor lay-up by Mikko Koivisto 3:24 into the game.
Koivisto and the Spartans took off on a run from there. The backdoor basket was the start of an 11-2 spurt to give UNCG an 11-6 lead with the sophomore from Vantaa, Finalnd scoring seven of the points.
The Pride bounced back, holding UNCG to one field goal over a span of five minutes and running off 11 straight points at one juncture to take an 18-17 lead with six minutes left in the first half.
With 4:44 remaining in the half, the score was tied at 21-21 when Hines finally checked into the line-up. He scored exactly 100 seconds later on a thunderous dunk. The teams see-sawed their way from there to a 32-32 break at the intermission.
Greensboro hung around early in the second half before the Spartans opened things up. Ben Stywall's three-pointer from the left side of the key opened up a nine-point UNCG lead, 47-38. Kendall Toney's three-pointer nearly four minutes later made it 56-40 and the Spartans had the cruise control set, leading by as many as 29 at one point.
The Spartans open the 2007-08 season at Georgia Tech on Friday night. Tip-off is set for 6 pm.
Greensboro College opens the season Nov. 17 against Plattsburgh State.
FREE THROWS: One stat that jumped out in the first half was of concern. The Spartans missed their first seven shots from three-point range – a part of their offense that is crucial if they want to keep opponents from collapsing on Hines. It wasn't until the final two minutes of the first half that UNCG connected on a trey – that coming from Kevin Oleksiak. The Spartans, however, made 6-of-8 in the second half... Free throw shooting has been a thorn in UNCG's side at times over the last two seasons. However, the Spartans were 9-for-12 from the line on Tuesday... Sam Mason did not play due to a sore back. He was not dressed and is day-to-day.
AGATE
UNCG 84, GREENSBORO COLLEGE 63
GREENSBORO COLLEGE
Adam Nicholson 6-19 0-0 14; Bruce Zamuel 5-8 0-0 13; Lewis Owenby 3-6 1-3 7; Jason Sharpe 3-10 0-0 6; R.J. Smith 2-4 0-0 5; Josh Brown 2-6 0-0 4; Adam Powell 2-5 0-0 4; Michael Mcduffie 1-3 1-2 4; Theophile Tamini 1-4 2-2 4; Mark Wright 0-2 2-2 2; Donovan Perry 0-0 0-0 0; Kenny Cornstock 0-0 0-0 0; Anton Pitt 0-0 0-0 0; Guy Mavoungou 0-0 0-0 0; Jazmen Hatcher 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-67 6-9 63.
UNCG
Kyle Hines 7-8 0-0 14; Daniel Oliver 6-6 0-1 13; Ben Stywall 3-8 4-4 11; Landon Clement 3-8 0-0 8; Kendall Toney 3-5 0-0 8; Kevin Oleksiak 2-6 2-2 7; Mikko Koivisto 3-8 1-1 7; Pete Brown 3-4 0-0 6; Davor Galic 2-3 0-0 4; Darius Sellers 0-0 2-2 2; Dwayne Johnson 1-3 0-0 2; Deangelo Jackson 1-1 0-0 2; Michael Mitchell 0-0 0-2 0; Mike Hardiman 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 34-61 9-12 84.
Halftime: Tied 32-32. 3-point goals--Greensboro College 7-16 (Bruce Zamuel 3-5; Adam Nicholson 2-6; R.J. Smith 1-1; Michael Mcduffie 1-1; Adam Powell 0-1; Mark Wright 0-1; Josh Brown 0-1), UNCG 7-18 (Kendall Toney 2-3; Landon Clement 2-5; Kevin Oleksiak 1-2; Daniel Oliver 1-1; Ben Stywall 1-1; Dwayne Johnson 0-1; Davor Galic 0-1; Mikko Koivisto 0-4). Fouled out--Greensboro College-None, UNCG-None. Rebounds--Greensboro College 39 (Jason Sharpe 7), UNCG 34 (Kyle Hines 5; Pete Brown 5). Assists--Greensboro College 9 (Adam Nicholson 6), UNCG 20 (Mikko Koivisto 3; Ben Stywall 3; Landon Clement 3; Kevin Oleksiak 3). Total fouls--Greensboro College 21, UNCG 14. Technical fouls—Greensboro College-None, UNCG-None. A-1121
- UNCG -
