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UNC Asheville
Gilliam Scores 22 as Men's Basketball Cruises to 82-63 Win
November 16 | Men's Basketball
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BAYAMON, P.R. – Chauncey Gilliam bounced back from a rough first game in Puerto Rico, scoring a game-high tying 22 points to lead the Akron Zips to an 82-63 win over UNC Asheville on Friday at the 2012 Puerto Rico Tip-Off.
Gilliam connected on 7-of-9 shots from the field, including a 5-of-6 performance from behind the 3-point arc. He also had one steal and one assist. Alex Abreu added 12 points and nine assists, while Nick Harney, making his season debut, had eight points and two boards.
The Zips (2-2) shot 49.1 percent for the game (26-of-53) and 50.0 percent from long range (12-of-24). The Bulldogs finished the game shooting 47.7 percent (21-of-44) and hit just three 3-point buckets (3-of-5).
UA won the rebound 30-29 and forced 14 UNCA turnovers. The Zips finished with 17 assists to just 12 turnovers.
Keith Hornsby led UNC Asheville (1-3) with 22 points.
Akron opened the second half by scoring the first two buckets to take a 42-34 advantage just 1:16 into the period. Gilliam began to take the game over just inside 17:00 remaining in the game, scoring 11-straight points to help the Zips maintain a 10-point advantage (55-45).
Akron would see its advantage grow to 67-50 at the 8:20 mark. That lead would continue to climb, reaching 24 points (76-52) by the under-four minute timeout. The Zips would cruise to the finish for the victory.
The Zips opened an early 6-2 lead sparked by Demetrius "Tree" Treadwell, who scored on his first two touches after getting the start. The Akron advantage hovered around five points for a stretch before the Bulldogs closed to within one point, 20-19, at the 9:10 mark.
From there, Akron used a 16-7 run to open up a 10-point advantage (36-26) with 5:04 remaining in the half. The Zips used three 3-pointers and seven free throws to spark the run.
UNC Asheville would answer, closing the half on an 8-1 run over the final 4:50 to send the game into halftime with Akron leading 37-34.
Both teams shot the ball well in the first half, with the Zips connecting on 11-of-25 from the floor (44 percent) and the Bulldogs hitting 12-of-26 attempts (46 percent).
Abreu led all scorers with 12 points and four assists while Harney and Gilliam pitched in with six points each. Zeke Marshall led all players with five boards in the half.
Akron will take on the winner of the Penn State-Providence matchup on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. ET on ESPN3.
Zips Notebook: With his five blocked shots, Zeke Marshall moved into a tie for second place in the Mid-American Conference recordbooks with 262 blocked shots ... he is tied with Ohio's Jason Terry (1992-96) ... Chauncey Gilliam recorded his first 20-point game for the Zips ... his career-high is 26 against Hartford (Feb. 2, 2010) as a member of the UMBC squad ... thanks to his nine assists, Alex Abreu became the ninth player in school history with 300 career assists ... Abreu passed Joe Jakubick for eighth on the career list (302).
