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Hines and Hickman combine for 50 as Spartans cruise to exhibition win
GREENSBORO, NC – Preseason All-Southern Conference selections Kyle Hines and Ricky Hickman each had 25 points as UNC Greensboro defeated Belmont Abbey, 103-71, in men’s basketball exhibition action Saturday afternoon at Fleming Gym.
Belmont Abbey, an NCAA Division II program located near Charlotte, used three-point shooting to stay in the game for much of the afternoon. The Crusaders made 10-of-19 from behind the 3-point arc to keep UNCG from truly pulling away. But the Spartans converted 28 Crusader turnovers into 41 points and had 50 points in the paint to keep control throughout the afternoon.
Hines, a junior All-America candidate from Sicklerville, NJ, had a double-double with 25 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks to lead the Spartans. Hickman, a senior from Winston-Salem, NC, also had 25 points for UNCG. Junior Kevin Oleksiak chipped in 15 points.
Brooks Beard had 22 points, including four three-pointers, to lead Belmont Abbey. Anthony Bell chipped in with 16 points and Ric Marczenko added 12 points for the Marauders.
At the outset, Belmont Abbey hung with the Spartans in an up-tempo first half. With both teams playing a lot of players early on, UNCG held the lead throughout the first nine minutes, but never by more than six. Belmont Abbey stayed within striking distance by knocking down three three-pointers early on.
Coming out of the 12-minute media timeout, however, the Spartans took control. UNCG ran off seven straight points, the final five of those by Kyle Hines, to open up a 28-19 lead with nine minutes to play before halftime. Hickman’s steal and lay-up with just over six minutes before intermission gave UNCG its first double-digit lead of the day, 35-24.
The lead continued to grow from there. Oleksiak knocked down a three-pointer from the right corner with just over a minute to go before half to give the Spartans a 16-point advantage, 48-32, and the margin never got less than 10 after that.
Belmont did make a run midway through the second half to get back to within 10. After UNCG stretched the lead to 69-45, Belmont Abbey ran off 14 straight points. Three three-pointers by Brooks Beard made up nine of the 14 points in the run and cut the deficit to 69-59 with 10:08 to play.
But UNCG scored 11 of the next 12 points to run the lead back to 20, capped off by a Hickman three-pointer with 6:50 to play.
The Spartans open the regular season November 11 at Marshall. Game time is set for 4 pm.
AGATE
UNCG 103, BELMONT ABBEY 71
BELMONT ABBEY
Beard, Brooks 9-15 0-0 22; Bell, Anthony 6-15 0-0 16; Marczenko,
Ric 5-8 2-312; Kuhlman, Patrick 2-3 0-0 6; Hoff, Sidney 2-6 2-2 6;
Patus, Chad 2-2 0-14; Jackson, Jonathan 0-2 2-2 2; Papans, Arturus
0-5 2-2 2; Murphy, Deonte 0-4 1-2 1; McDowell, Chris 0-0 0-0 0.
Totals 26-60 9-12 71.
UNCG
Hickman, Ricky 8-15 7-9 25; Hines, Kyle 10-14 5-7 25; Oleksiak,
Kevin 6-13 0-0 15; Toney, Kendall 3-5 0-0 8; Brown, Pete 1-1 5-6 7;
Akinosho, Matt 2-3 3-4 7; Stywall, Ben 1-2 2-2 4; Koivisto, Mikko
1-5 1-2 3; Tooms,Bart 1-1 1-2 3; Vlazny, Greg 1-1 0-0 2; Jones,
Omar 1-2 0-1 2; Johnson, Dwyane 0-5 2-2 2; Moore, Donald 0-0 0-0 0;
Simmons, Everson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 35-67 26-35 103.
Halftime: UNCG 48-36. 3-point goals--Belmont Abbey 10-19 (Beard, Brooks 4-7; Bell, Anthony 4-7; Kuhlman, Patrick 2-2; Papans, Arturus 0-2; Murphy, Deonte 0-1), UNCG 7-24 (Oleksiak,Kevin 3-7; Toney,Kendall 2-3; Hickman,Ricky 2-9; Koivisto,Mikko 0-3; Johnson, Dwyane 0-2). Fouled out--Belmont Abbey-Kuhlman, Patrick; Papans, Arturus, UNCG-None. Rebounds--Belmont Abbey 32 (Hoff, Sidney 7), UNCG 42 (Hines, Kyle 11). Assists--Belmont Abbey 14 (Murphy, Deonte 6), UNCG 21 (Hickman, Ricky 5). Total fouls--Belmont Abbey 26, UNCG 16. Technical fouls--Belmont Abbey-None, UNCG-None.
- UNCG -
