The first game of the First Four went to overtime and despite not having the thrill of a Final Four game it certainly had moments of sheer March Madness. UNC-Asheville’s top player, Matt Dickey had a tournament-worthy performance to guide the Bulldogs into an 81-77 win in overtime with 22 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists.
Dickey was in charge of putting in together one heck of a comeback late in the second quarter. The Bulldogs had been ahead in the scoreboard for only 52 seconds before Dickey put himself together and began to play like a pro. He was responsible for signing in 14 of the Bulldogs 18 points in regulation. Not only that but he was the guy who finished off the Bulldogs comeback hitting a flawless three-pointer with ten seconds to go to tie the game and push it into overtime.
Matt Dickey wasn’t sharp during the whole game, that’s for sure. In the first half, he only shot twice, and had it not been for the rest of his teammates, things wouldn’t have gone as well as they did.
Alex Garcia-Mendoza matched his career high record with 21 points for Arkansas-Little Rock. The guys had a 19-17 season and somehow still managed to make it into the NCAA Tournament. The Trojans played overtime without Solomon Bozeman, the Sun Belt’s Conference player of the year. The talented youngster got into foul trouble late in the second half and had to watch the overtime from the bench. Still, Bozeman finished with 18 points for the game, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Arkansas-Little Rock team alive in the single elimination NCAA Tournament.
There wasn’t much time to celebrate for the UNC-Ashville to celebrate the victory, as the guys from the team had a charter flight straight to Washington DC where they’ll have one of the toughest challenges of the season. The Bulldogs are certainly going to need more then what they showed last night if they are hoping to survive the No.1 seed in the Southeast, Pittsburgh.
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