GREENSBORO, NC ? UNC Greensboro forward Kyle Hines scored a career-high 29 points and also had six assists, five blocks and five steals as the Spartans rolled past Montreat, 96-68, in non-conference men’s basketball action Wednesday night at Fleming Gym.
The Spartans, who were coming off three consecutive games against 2005 NCAA Tournament participants, snapped a five-game losing skid and in the process won their seventh straight at Fleming Gymnasium. It was also UNCG’s 10th straight non-conference win at Fleming Gym and 28th in the last 29 non-league contests at Fleming.
Hines, who scored 21 points in his collegiate debut against Montreat last year on 10-of-15 shooting from the field, shot 13-for-16 from the field on Wednesday for his sixth game of 20 or more points this season and the 11th of his young career. His six assists were also a career high for the sophomore from Sicklerville, NJ.
"I was just trying to do whatever I could to get us a win," said Hines, the 2005 Southern Conference Freshman of the Year. "I was getting good looks at the basket tonight."
UNCG (8-8) also received 18 points from Kevin Oleksiak and 15 points from Ricky Hickman, the 14th straight game of 10 or more points for the junior from Kernersville, NC. Hickman, who is third in the nation in steals at 3.5 per game, added to that with five more on Wednesday night. As a team, UNCG tied a team record with 20 steals, equaling the mark set on December 2, 1985 against Piedmont Bible when the Spartans were an NCAA Division III member.
Montreat, which was playing its second game in as many nights, got 15 points from David Robinson. Robinson, a senior from Asheville, NC, knocked down 5-of-8 from three-point range for the Cavaliers (8-7).
"I told our guys it would feel good to win and it felt good to get one," said UNCG coach Mike Dement. "We’re in a stretch of the schedule right now where teams feel comfortable shooting three-pointers. The last six games, we are averaging more than 10 three-pointers allowed per game. Now, we go into a game on Saturday against an Elon team that just made 16 against Chattanooga the other night.
"We aren’t capitalizing like we did early on with the turnovers, the offensive rebounds and making free throws," said Dement. "We have a young team. When you don’t make shots as a young team, it tends to show up in your defense, and it has lately."
Montreat scored five of the first six points of the game before UNCG used a 19-7 run to open up and eight-point lead midway through the first half. The Cavaliers, who came into the game shooting 39 percent from three-point range as a team, knocked down five three-pointers in the first half, however, to remain close.
Connecting on 10 of its first 17 shots from the field, Montreat trailed by just three with six minutes left in the first half, 30-27. A conventional three-point play by Oleksiak and a pair of free throws by David McClenny, however, gave UNCG its first double-digit lead of the first half. That was part a 12-2 run to close out the first half and give UNCG its largest lead of the night, 48-34, as it headed into the break.
UNCG then came out and scored seven of the first nine to open the second half, beginning with Hines stealing the opening in-bounds and going in for a breakaway dunk. Hickman closed the spurt with a three-pointer to give UNCG a commanding 55-36 lead. That basket gave Hickman a three-pointer 11 straight games this season.
Montreat, meanwhile, went cold. After knocking down nearly 60 percent of their shots in the first 14 minutes of the game, Montreat made just five of its next 16 from the floor as the Spartans stretched their lead past 20 and well out of reach.
UNCG, which plays 12 of its first 17 games away from Fleming Gym, heads up Interstate 40 on Saturday night to take on conference rival Elon at 7 pm.