Bulldogs at CSU Monday Night in Key Road Contest

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The UNC Asheville men's basketball team is back in action Monday night as the Bulldogs finish their two-game road trip at Charleston Southern Monday night at 7:30 p.m.

Monday's game will be broadcast on the Big South Digital Network and can be seen for free at this link. Bulldog fans can also listen to the game on WWNC Radio (570-AM) and iHeartRadio with the pre-game show starting at 7 p.m.

Asheville improved to 4-1 in league play and 8-8 overall with a hard-fought 69-65 victory at Campbell Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs trailed by 10 in the first half but came back in the second half to record their second BSC road win of the season. David Robertson scored 18 of his 21 points in the second half in the victory. Andrew Rowsey scored 17 of his 19 points in the first half to keep the Dogs close. Senior center Jaleel Roberts finished with a career-high 14 points on 7-of-7 shooting from the field and collected a career-best 12 rebounds in the win.

“Every road win is important, and I really like the way our guys responded on Saturday to beat a good Campbell team on the road,” stated Bulldog coach Nick McDevitt. “We had some adversity but found a way to get the job done.”

Things get even tougher Monday night as the Bulldogs journey to Charleston Southern. The Buccaneers (10-7, 4-2 BSC) have won three straight after winning at PC Saturday night, 73-65. CSU owns a non-conference win at Ole Miss and has a great backcourt in seniors Saah Nimley (18.1 ppg) and Arlon Harper (11.1 ppg). Will Saunders is at 13.1 ppg and has knocked down 51 treys. Nimley has 55 three-pointers for a CSU team that is making 9.1 per game.

“We've got a big challenge Monday night at Charleston Southern,” commented McDevitt. “Charleston Southern has a very good team, and they're playing really well right now. We all know the Buc Dome is a tough environment to play in, and it's extremely tough for anyone to win here. Our guys played well on Saturday, but we'll have to play even better Monday night to have a shot at winning.”

Asheville won both meetings last year. Andrew Rowsey scored 37 points at CSU in the team's first meeting to allow the Bulldogs to rally past the Bucs, 80-76. The Dogs trailed CSU by 11 with five minutes remaining until Rowsey let a furious rally to give Asheville its first win at the Buc Dome in five seasons. The Bulldogs won at Kimmel Arena later in the season, 82-71 but the Buccaneers played the game without Nimley and had several other players out with injuries that evening.

Rowsey leads Asheville in scoring with an 18.8 scoring average. Robertson is second with a 12.8 mark. He's averaging a team-high 14 points in league play. Roberts tops the Dogs in rebounding with a 6.0 mark and continues to lead the Big South in blocks with 46 (3.07). He is 11^th nationally in that category.

After Monday's game, the Bulldogs return home for one game against Big South-leader Coastal Carolina Thursday night at Kimmel Arena in a game that will be broadcast on ESPNU starting at 7 p.m.

BULLDOG NOTES

UNC Asheville is 2-0 on the road in Big South Conference road games this season. Asheville has won those two games by a combined total of six points. The Dogs won three league road contests in 2014 by a combined total of nine points. Asheville's last five BSC road wins have come by an average margin of three points.

Sophomore guard David Robertson has scored in double figures in 10 of the last 13 games and has at least 20 points in two of the last three contests.

Andrew Rowsey is rapidly approaching 1,000 career points and will become the first Asheville sophomore to reach that plateau in just his second year of school. He has 949 points entering Monday's game at CSU.

The Bulldogs are 1-3 in their last four games at the CSU Buc Dome. Ironically, the team leading at halftime in those four games has lost each time. In the Asheville three losses, the Blue & White gave up double-digit leads each time. The Bucs led by 11 with under five minutes remaining in last year's contest before the Dogs made an incredibly rally thanks to Andrew Rowsey's 37 points.

Second-year head coach Nick McDevitt is 2-0 as head coach of the Bulldogs in Charleston. His first win as a head coach came at College of Charleston on November 15, 2013 when the Dogs defeated the Cougars, 67-58 in overtime. He earned another win when Asheville edged CSU, 80-76 last January.

Asheville is off to a 4-1 start in league play for the second straight year.

The Bulldogs have out-rebounded their last four opponents and are 7-1 when they win the rebounding battle.