Jim Carrey is currently starring in movie theaters as the Grinch, but UNC-Asheville’s Brett Carey played a real-life role of the Christmas character in Memorial Center Tuesday night.
Carey made two key plays late for UNC-Asheville as they pulled off a 70-65 upset victory over the Bucs.
After the Bucs (1-4) had rallied from a 63-56 deficit to cut the Bulldogs lead to 63-61 with 1:32 left, Carey took over as he hit a jump shot, then stole the ball and hit a lay-up to extend the Bulldogs advantage to six. The Bucs would not recover from that deficit.
ETSU Head Coach Ed DeChellis acknowledged UNC- Asheville’s key playmaking late to help secure the win.
“I give credit to UNC-Asheville,” DeChellis said. “They did a lot of good things in the last few minutes to win the game.”
DeChellis also thought that the play of his squad did contribute to the loss.
“We didn’t help ourselves,” DeChellis said. “Anytime we got a lead or made a run, we shot ourselves in the foot defensively by doing something dumb or fouling somebody.
The Bucs shooting 23 percent from the field in the second half did not help their cause.
“In the second half we couldn’t make a basket,” DeChellis said. “You are not going to win many games shooting 23 percent.”
The Bucs started out slow, falling behind 7-0 in the first 2:30 of the game. They trailed 17-10 at one point and did not take their first lead until a Cliff Decoster jump shot put them up 25-23 with 5:09 to go in the first half.
DeChellis was not impressed with his team’s lack of intensity.
“We didn’t come out of the gate tonight with any fire or enthusiasm,” DeChellis said. “That was very disappointing.”
ETSU did lead the contest 52-47 with 10:39 to go, but then were outscored 23-13 the rest of the way.
The Bucs did win the rebounding war 50-35, with 27 of those ETSU rebounds coming on the offensive end.
The bad news for ETSU was that many of those offensive rebounds were not put back in for points.
ETSU freshman point guard Ryan Carson was pleased with the way his teammates performed inside, but knows there is still room for improvement.
“One thing coach has been telling us is that we have to toughen up,” Carson said. “We have to press for the rebounds both offensively and defensively. Everyone says whoever wins the rebounding war is going to win the scoring war. It’s something we need to work on and get better at.”
Carson was definitely one of the few bright spots on the night for the ETSU. He scored 13 points, but Carson is not interested in strong individual performances.
“I’m all about winning,” Carson said. “It doesn’t matter if one person goes out and scores 55 points. If we lose it doesn’t matter whether I played well or not.”
Cliff Decoster and Adrian Meeks also scored in double figures against the Bulldogs, netting 12 apiece.
Having an unusual off night was junior Dimeco Childress, who after scoring 30 against Vanderbilt last Friday could only tally nine Tuesday night.
“Dimeco didn’t have his normal game and that’s the night other guys have to step up,” DeChellis said. “Our seniors have to bring it every night and that’s what you are hoping they can do.
“I thought our young guys did a good job and they are going to get some more time. We’re trying to find our combination right now that’s going to do the things we want to do.”
Tuesday’s game marked the return to action for forward Isaac Potter, who had been out with an injury for five weeks. He scored five points and brought down five rebounds.
Potter had mixed emotions about Tuesday night’s contest.
“It felt real good to get back on the court,” Potter said. “Tonight I played so hard, but we couldn’t get that win.”
UNC-Asheville had a balanced scoring attack as Adam Earnhardt and Andre Smith led the Bulldogs with 14 points, while Carey and Allan Lovett had 12 and 11 respectively.
Carson feels a sense of urgency for this team that will try for its first road win of the season Saturday night at Morehead State.
“We’ve got to come up with a win sometime,” Carson said. “Our goal is to get to the NCAA tournament. We won’t be satisfied with anything else. We’ve got to keep practicing hard and get it done.

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