Berton blog

UNC Asheville rolls past Radford 70-50

RADFORD, Va. – D.J. Cunningham scored 16 points and had eight rebounds to lead North Carolina-Asheville to a 70-50 victory over Radford on Thursday night in the Big South Conference opener for both teams.

Matt Dickey and J.P. Primm added 14 points each for the Bulldogs (3-4), who built a 34-27 halftime lead by shooting 54.5 percent from the field (12 of 22).

Radford (2-4), which has lost four consecutive games, stayed close for the first 8 minutes of the second half, but Dickey converted a four-point play to push UNC Asheville's lead to 49-34 with 11:39 remaining.

Cunningham's free throws gave the Bulldogs a 64-44 advantage with 5:43 to play.

Primm was 9 for 10 from the free throw line.

Gorkem Sonmez, who hit five 3-pointers, scored 17 points and Blake Smith added 10 points to lead Radford, which shot a season-low 27.5 percent from the field (14 of 51).