NCAA – Dickey heroics keep Biedenbach’s Asheville alive; Tigers hammer UAB

DAYTON (NCAA Tournament) - The expanded NCAA Tournament got underway on Tuesday night with 'First Four' games played in Dayton, Ohio.

Eddie Biedenbach, the coach of UNC-Asheville, led his team to an 81-77 victory over Arkansas-Little Rock.

Matt Dickey hit a game-tying three-pointer from the left corner with 10.5 seconds remaining to force overtime.

Once in the extra period, there were five lead changes.

When JP Primm buried two free throws for a 78-77 Ashville advantage, they were in front to stay.

Now they will square off against top seed Pittsburgh, the Southeast's top seed, in Washington DC on Thursday.

Biedenbach, many people in ACC country will remember, once played for North Carolina State for three very famous coaches: Everett Case, Press Maravich (father of Pete) and Norm Sloan.

At State, Biedenbach reached the NCAA Tournament in 1965, when only the conference champions advanced to the tournament since there were no at-large bids.

Nine years later and Biedenbach was on the staff of Sloan, helping one of the most celebrated teams in ACC history not only win the ACC, but to upset John Wooden's UCLA at the NCAA Final Four before capturing the title.

Biedenbach, who once coached David College, is now the long-time boss in Asheville, whom he led into the NCAA Tournament in 2003.

The coach hailed the performance of Dickey, who scored 14 of his team's last 18 points in regulation, and Primm.

"We've had great, great play out of Matt Dickey and JP Primm all year long," he said.

"DJ Cunningham has coming along. He's our starting center and he's had a really good year, 100% over last year.

"Between them they won the game for us. I couldn't be prouder of them. It's great to have a chance to go to DC."

Alex Garcia-Mendoza, who hails from El Fuerte, Mexico, had a career-high 21 points in defeat.

The NCAA Tournament now has the 'First Four' - four games in two days at the University of Dayton Arena which is part of an expanded 68-team field.

Clemson, who nearly upset the University of North Carolina in the semi-finals of the ACC Tournament, rolled past the University of Alabama-Birmingham, 70-52, with Jerai Grant pouring in a game-high 22 points.

The Tigers, led by impressive young coach Brad Brownell, will now square off against West Virginia – the fifth seed in the East Region in Tampa, Florida, on Thursday afternoon.

Clemson won an NCAA Tournament game for the first time since 1997.

"It certainly is a difficult turnaround to face a good West Virginia team that's rested and motivated," Brownell said.

There are two ‘First Four’ games on Wednesday in Dayton.

Texas-San Antonio face Alabama State and the University of Southern California square off against Virginia Commonwealth University.

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